Monday was the hottest day of this season in Calcutta.
The Celsius soared to 41.7 degrees, more than six degrees above normal. The last time Calcutta saw an April day as hot as Monday was on April 25, 1980. The maximum temperature that day was also 41.7.
In terms of the hottest-ever April days recorded by the Met office, Monday ranks joint fourth (see chart).
Social media has been abuzz with forecasts that the Celsius in Calcutta will breach the 45-degree mark in a day or two. A Met official said it is unlikely.
“The maximum temperature is likely to remain between 40 and 42 degrees in Calcutta,” said H.R. Biswas, head of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Calcutta.
The ongoing heatwave, however, shows no signs of abating. The earliest possibility of rain that the Met office spots is around May 5-6. But even that is mired in uncertainty.
“Mainly dry westerly to north-westerly wind at lower levels continue to prevail over the region and due to strong solar insolation, heatwave condition is very likely to prevail over the districts of West Bengal from April 29 to May 3,” said a Met bulletin.
The synoptic situation is still conducive for rain in the Northeast.
“A cyclonic circulation lies over northeast Assam and a trough runs from north Bihar to Manipur in lower tropospheric levels. Under its influence, fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate rainfall/snowfall accompanied by isolated thunderstorm and lightning and gusty winds (40-50kmph) very likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the next five days,” said a bulletin issued from the IMD headquarters in Delhi.
The moisture outflow from the anticyclone on the Bay is still headed towards Bangladesh and Assam. Some moisture is also headed to south Odisha, said a Met official.
As the heatwave continues to torment Bengal, some districts will be more affected than others.
Bankura, Birbhum, Jhargram, Murshidabad, West Midnapore and East and West Burdwan districts are likely to see “severe heatwave conditions”.
Around 2pm on Monday, the eateries dotting Dalhousie were empty. “Many people are only having curd and fruits,” said a man who sells parathas.
Esplanade was deserted around 3pm.
Only KKR fans seemed undeterred.
The roads leading to the Eden Gardens started buzzing around 4pm, several hours before Kolkata Knights Riders took on Delhi Capitals.
Safdar Khan and wife Neha, both bank employees, had come all the way from Chennai to support their favourite team, KKR. They came with two sons, Armaan, 8, and Ayaan, 4.
“It was tough to manage an off-day at the start of the week, but we did it for our favourite team,” said Khan.
Bhaskar Biswas, an engineer, reached Calcutta from Cooch Behar on a train this morning. He rushed to East Burdwan on office work and managed to wrap it up on time to reach Eden around 5.30pm.
“Compared to Calcutta, Cooch Behar is quite pleasant. But Burdwan was hotter than Calcutta. I have been drinking ORS-mixed water,” he said.
There is a slim hope of thunderstorm activities in south Bengal, said Biswas, the Met official.
“There is a possibility that the moist winds from the Bay will start entering south Bengal. The development of a rain-facilitating system in the lower level of the atmosphere in eastern India cannot be ruled out. But it cannot be said with certainty,” he said.