Rainfall likely in city during phase V of polls: Weatherman

Kolkata: People in the western districts will again undergo heatwave conditions in the next couple of days. Though some of south Bengal districts, including Kolkata, may receive rainfall on the day of fifth phase election on May 20, said the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore. Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri in North Bengal may receive light to moderate rainfall in the next 48 hours.

Darjeeling may witness a thunderstorm accompanied by a strong gust on Saturday. Several South Bengal districts like Birbhum, East Burdwan, Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, West Midnapore may receive light rainfall on May 19.

On May 20, several districts in South Bengal will go for the fifth phase elections. Several South Bengal districts will be drenched on the day of elections, the MeT office said. According to the MeT office prediction, heatwave is again going to haunt the people in some of the South Bengal districts with the mercury expected to go up by 3-4 degree Celsius in the next

few days. Heatwave alerts have been issued for the districts like West Midnapore, Bankura, West Burdwan, Birbhum etc. The MeT office said that the weather will mostly stay dry.

Some of the North Bengal districts may receive rainfall in the next few days. Though there may be scattered rainfall in some pockets in the coastal regions as well. Many South Bengal districts may witness the highest temperature at 40 degree Celsius on the weekend. Kolkata is expected to touch 38 degree Celsius in the weekend while the western districts may touch 42. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the southwest monsoon is likely to advance into the South Andaman Sea region by the end of this week.

If realised, this would make a timely onset of the monsoon over Southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood areas.