Thundershower lashes city, districts; brings down mercury

Kolkata: A thundershower hit the city and some of the South Bengal districts on Sunday evening, giving relief to the people from the hot and humid condition which was prevailing.

The regional meteorological centre at Alipore had predicted that there was a possibility of thunderstorm in the city and some other South Bengal districts on Sunday, as strong moisture-laden South-Westerly wind would be blowing in the area, creating favourable condition for a storm.

According to weather officials, cyclonic circulation, which was earlier hovering over Jharkhand, had started reaching Gangetic Bengal from Saturday. As a result of which, some parts of the city and adjoining areas witnessed light rainfall on Saturday.

A strong wind was blowing at 60-70 km per hour in some parts of the city on Sunday as well. The rain has brought the temperature down by few notches. Thundershower also lashed districts like North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah. It may be mentioned that there was a heavy hailstorm in Jhargram on Saturday evening.

According to a weather expert, a trough of low pressure stretching from the eastern parts of Bihar up to Bengal has also contributed to this. The moisture-laden air, mixed with the hot and dry air, has formed thunderclouds in some parts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore on Friday predicted that a thunderstorm coupled with high-speed winds would be witnessed in large parts of Bengal till Sunday.

An alert has already been issued, prohibiting fishermen from venturing into the sea, as it may turn turbulent. Restrictions have been imposed on the fishermen at Digha, Sankarpur and other coastal regions.

Traffic movement was diverted after a tree fell on Raja Manindra Road at around 7:38 pm on Sunday. Traffic movement was also restricted on Cathedral Road from its intersection with Queen's Way.

As many as seven flights scheduled to land at Kolkata Airport were diverted, including one at Dhaka.