Thundershowers, lightning may hit several South Bengal dists: MeT

Kolkata: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted that thundershowers and lightning may occur in several south Bengal districts from Thursday to Saturday while a heavy rainfall will hit various north Bengal in the next 48 hours.

The MeT office said that the rainfall will intensify in North Bengal districts. The districts like Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar will receive a very heavy rainfall while Darjeeling, Kalimpong and North Dinajpur will receive scattered rainfall.

South Bengal districts may receive one or two spells of rainfall in the next 24 hours but the intensity of rainfall will increase from Thursday.

Most of the South Bengal districts will witness thundershowers. Despite rainfall, many of the districts in South Bengal would continue to reel under hot and sultry weather. The districts of South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, East Burdwan, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Nadia and Kolkata are likely to witness thundershowers.

Rain will intensify from Thursday as low-pressure forms over the Bay of Bengal. Two low-pressure zones that formed in west-central Bay of Bengal were situated along the Andhra coast. The MeT office said that it may trigger rainfall in Odisha as well.

Kolkata and several other south Bengal districts received rainfall on Sunday, the day of Rath Yatra festival in Bengal. North Bengal districts on the other hand had received heavy rainfall in the past few.

Kolkata on the other hand registered a rain deficit of 49% in June. The June rain shortage for the rest of Gangetic Bengal was even higher

at 67 per cent.

This, however, was the fourth June in the past one decade to incur rain shortage.

There may be heavy to very heavy rainfall in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri on Friday. It may trigger landslides in the hilly regions, the MeT office apprehends.