‘Winter’s first chill likely by weekend, temp to dip by 2-4 degree Celsius’

Kolkata: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted that temperature will drop by 2 to 4 degree Celsius by this weekend giving a feel of winter cold to the city dwellers. The full-fledged winter may, however, set in from the first week of December.

The weather experts noted that a weak western disturbance passing over northern mountainous areas has temporarily paused the cooling effect.

Once this system moves away, temperatures are expected to go down.

The MeT office said that mercury is expected to start sliding down from Wednesday-Thursday. Many of the North Bengal districts may receive a thudershowers in the middle of the week. The dry weather will prevail in north Bengal from Friday. Temperature remained comparatively on the higher side in the first four days of this month which the weather officials find unusual.

Kolkata is likely to experience relatively cold conditions. Temperatures in both North and South Bengal are expected to decrease in the next couple of days. “People in the city may experience winter cold after Friday this week. Mercury will go down gradually in the next couple of days. However, there may be little drizzle in Kolkata between Tuesday and Thursday. The city’s sky may remain partially cloudy on Tuesday,” a weather official said. Many of the South Bengal districts witnessed a little fog early during the morning hours of Monday. The lowest temperature of the city on Monday remained at 24.8 degree Celsius which was above the normal temperature. The highest temperature of the day was registered at 31.2 degree Celsius on Sunday.

Hill districts like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, and Alipurduar are likely to see scattered light rain till November 6. Scattered rain is forecast for November 6 in Cooch Behar and other North Bengal districts. Generally, people feel comparatively cold weather towards the end of October. Normally, during Diwali, there's a slight chill in the air and people wear light woollens, but this time, temperatures in south Bengal districts were higher than normal.

This year’s October was recorded as the warmest one in the national capital in 73 years, while Kolkata registered an unusually warm day in the first couple of days of November.