Kolkata sees coldest day of January in 3 yrs

Kolkata: The city witnessed the coldest day of the season so far on Sunday, with the mercury plummeting to 10.6 degree Celsius.

The Regional Meteorological Department in Alipore said that the cold wave may sweep through the city and South Bengal districts in the next few days.

According to an official of the weather office, Kolkata registered the lowest temperature of not only this season but also the lowest temperature in January in the past three years, on Sunday morning.

The weather office has warned that the temperature may drop by a few notches further in the next 48 hours, with the cold wave continuing to sweep through the state.

There was poor visibility in the morning due to fog, which led to the late running of trains including some long distance ones. Dense fog will continue to prevail in North Bengal in the next few days with the transport services expected to be affected.

Thousands of people braved the cold and started thronging various tourist places, including Alipore Zoo, Victoria Memorial, Eco Park and Indian Museum from Sunday morning.

The north-westerly wind is bringing the winter chill to the South Bengal districts. The cold wave has been sweeping through various North Bengal districts including North Dinajpur, which recorded 5.4 degree Celsius with Jalpaiguri seeing 5.30 degree Celsius.

"The same weather conditions will continue for two to three days with temperature hovering around 10 degrees. There is also a possibility that temperature may fall below 10 degrees in the city," a senior official of Alipore weather office said.

The Met office further predicted that a cold wave will sweep across East and West Burdwan, Birbhum and Purulia in the next couple of days, where temperature has already dipped below 10 degrees. During night, the temperature may drop further, weather experts said.