Rainfall likely to dampen New Year celebrations

Kolkata: Rain may dampen the spirit of New Year celebrations as there may be rainfall in several South Bengal districts on December 31. The cold wind is being interrupted by the western disturbances. There is a possibility of snowfall in several parts of Darjeeling on the last day of this year.

People in Kolkata and other South Bengal districts may not feel a winter chill on December 31 or January 1. However, mercury may slightly drop in the first week of January. Kolkata’s lowest temperature may hover 14 degree Celsius on January 1 while in case of western districts it may drop below 10 degree Celsius. Cold northern wind may start flowing from Monday bringing the mercury by a few notches.

Kolkata registered its lowest temperature at 16.6 degree Celsius on Sunday which was 2.8 degrees above normal. The highest temperature remained at 26.4 degree Celsius on Saturday evening. The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore had earlier predicted that mercury might go down below 10 degree celsius in several South Bengal districts in the beginning of January.

The MeT office also said that mercury may drop by 1-2 degree Celsius in the next 24 hours in some of the south Bengal districts. The lowest temperature of the day remained at around 16 degree celsius in Kolkata on Saturday. Mercury dropped by 3 degree Celsius between Thursday and Friday in the city, giving a sense of winter cold.

The lowest temperature in Kolkata was registered at 19.2 degree Celsius on Thursday while on Friday the lowest temperature stood at 16.5 which was 2.7 degree above normal.

There may be light fog in various South Bengal districts early in the morning hours. A thick fog alert has been issued for several North Bengal districts like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and Malda.

The night temperature will drop by 2-3 degree Celsius in the next few days.