‘Mercury likely to go down by about 3 degrees in next 2-3 days’

Kolkata: Mercury is expected to go down by at least 3 degrees in the next 2-3 days, as the second spell of winter cold is here.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore has said that the mercury will start sliding from Friday. On the weekend the temperature may go 2-3 degrees below normal. The city’s lowest temperature may touch 13-14 degrees Celsius, the MeT office said. The city dwellers may feel colder weather from Friday-Saturday.

There is no prediction of rainfall in the city in the next 7 days, the MeT office said. South Bengal districts will witness colder weather on the day of Makar Sankranti. Both North Bengal and South Bengal districts have been witnessing dense fog in the early morning hours for the past few days. Dense fog alert has been issued for several districts in North Bengal.

Incidentally, the MeT office has already warned that dense fog will prevail at Gangasagar during Makar Sankranti especially during the morning hours. The visibility may go below 500 metres. There is however no prediction of rainfall in Gangasagar during Makar Sankranti. There will be dense fog in several districts of North Bengal — Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri. There will be light to moderate fog in Darjeeling, Kalimpong.

Kolkata had recorded the highest temperature towards the end on December 28 with the mercury dropping at 20.7 degree Celsius which was 7 degrees above normal. It was recorded as the warmest day in the last 18 years.

The city witnessed relatively hotter weather on New Year’s Day. December 1 in 2023 recorded the highest minimum temperature since 2015 and the second highest since 2000, following on the heels of an unusually warm November when the mean minimum temperature was the highest in 13 years. The minimum temperature was registered at 20.1° Celsius that day and it ranked the second highest in the last 23 years, following 2015’s December 1 temperature of 23.3° Celsius.

A western disturbance will enter North West parts of the country on Friday. The earlier western disturbance has turned into a cyclonic circulation hovering over Uttar Pradesh. A low pressure was formed over the Indian ocean.