Temperature in city drops to 12.50Celsius

Kolkata: Bengal on Sunday witnessed the coldest day of the season with the temperature in the city dropping to 12.5 degree Celsius, 3 notches below normal. The mercury was recorded below 10 degree Celsius in various parts of South Bengal districts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore issued a cold wave alert to the districts like East and West Burdwan, Purulia and Birbhum.

The temperature was recorded at 5 degree Celsius in Panagarh of West Burdwan and 7 degree Celsius in Purulia. Durgapur in West Burdwan and Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas registered the lowest temperature of the season at 7.6 and 7.9 degree Celsius respectively. The highest temperature in the city hovered around 26 degree Celsius.

The MeT office also said the mercury in the city and its adjoining areas would hover around 12 degree Celsius till next Tuesday following which there may be some atmospheric changes. It is assumed that fresh western disturbances might affect the steady flow of winter chill from North India resulting in a sudden rise in the temperature in Bengal.

The winter has been eluding the people in Bengal for the past few weeks due to the impact of the western disturbances. As per the weather office, the winter officially sets in towards the middle of December.

North Bengal districts have already been witnessing cold waves with the temperature in Darjeeling going down to 3 degree Celsius. Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri also registered temperatures below 8 degree Celsius.

The winter chill is also expected to intensify in the Western districts of Bengal as well along with a cold wave. It may be mentioned here that the mercury started sliding down in South Bengal after the cloud disappeared on Friday.

There had been an impact of western disturbances in the state, which prevented the temperature from dipping for some time. The weather office apprehends that the city temperature may slightly go up during the Christmas.