Kolkata: The city on Sunday witnessed the coldest day of January so far with the minimum temperature going below 12 degree Celsius. The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted that mercury will again slide up from Wednesday. There may be rainfall in the city and various other south Bengal districts during Saraswati Puja.
There has been a steady flow of cold north wind that brings down the mercury. The sky will mainly remain clear in all the south Bengal districts. The mercury will remain below normal in the next 48 hours, the MeT office said. The lowest temperature in the city on Sunday morning stood at 11.8 degree Celsius. This is the lowest temperature recorded in this January so far. The temperature during night will also remain below normal in Kolkata. The city dwellers will continue to witness the cold spell till Tuesday after which the mercury will again slide up. It may rain in Kolkata on Friday.
Various north Bengal districts like Darjeeling and Kalimpong will receive rainfall on Thursday. Temperature in North Bengal districts will also remain below normal in the next couple of days. Mercury dropped by 6 degree Celsius in the past three days. The lowest temperature in the city remained at 14.4 degree Celsius on Friday. There will be an impact of another western disturbance in the beginning of February, as a result, there may be a change in weather system. Mercury will go up in February due to the impact of western disturbance, said a weather official.