Kolkata: People in the city and other districts of South Bengal who had been under a tremendous heat spell for the past few days heaved a sigh of relief after thunderstorms hit certain parts of the state resulting in a dip in temperature.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted rain and thundershowers in various South Bengal districts in the next 48 hours, particularly in the evening. Though during the day time, hot and humid conditions may prevail, added the weather office. The monsoon is expected to enter the state early next month.
Thundershowers along with gusty winds swept through the city and some South Bengal districts on Saturday evening. Though, they did not last for too long but they brought the much needed relief for the city dwellers from sultry weather.
The MeT office also forecast that districts like Birbhum, Nadia, Bankura, Malda will witness moderate rainfall along with gusty winds in the next two days. A hailstorm is expected to hit some parts of South Bengal as well. Thundershowers may also lash other districts like North 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah and adjoining parts of the city on late Monday night.
According to a weather official, the mercury will slide down by a few notches immediately after the thundershowers but the discomfort level may not be reduced as the humidity is still expected to be on the higher side.
Interestingly, the temperature may be slightly higher during the night in comparison to the temperature that is normally found during this time of the year.
The MeT office also predicts that North Bengal districts will receive heavy thundershowers in the next 48 hours. Hailstorms is also likely to hit several districts in North Bengal as a result of which tea gardens may face damages.
There will be occasional downpour and gusty winds in South Bengal in the next two days.
It may be mentioned here that entire South Bengal continued to burn under the scorching sun for the past one week resulting in discomfort for the city dwellers.
The temperature touched 42-43 degree in the Western districts like Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore.
The average maximum temperature in the region remained high throughout the day in the past couple of days due to the inflow of northwesterly winds to Bengal from the neighbouring states.