August ended with a rain deficit of 20 per cent in Kolkata, said a Met official.
The city received around 290mm of rain this August.
The usual average for the month is 364mm, according to the Met office.
July, the rainiest month in Kolkata, ended with a near 30 per cent deficit this year.
This July was the second-driest in a decade, getting only 275mm of rain against the average of around 390mm.
The cumulative rain deficit for Kolkata so far this season is 34 per cent, said the official.
“The city should have received around 1,035mm of rain from June 1 to August 31. But it got around 680mm,” he said.
Met officials attributed the sharp deficit to the absence of weather systems over the Bay of Bengal that could facilitate adequate showers.
July had seen very few. In comparison, August saw multiple systems over the Bay of Bengal.
On August 19, a deep depression on the Bay of Bengal entered land in Bengal near Digha. The strongest system over the Bay this year gave momentum to the monsoon winds.
Sharp spells of rain struck Kolkata through the night on August 19.
The rain was caused by the tail of the system and the clouds in the outer band.
“But the currents have since weakened again. There is no possibility of a new system on the Bay in the next few days,” said the Met official.
Most recently, the city received heavy rain last Saturday. But the rain, caused by local thunderclouds, was not uniform.
When parts of central Kolkata were receiving heavy rain, Salt Lake and Behala got a drizzle. If there is any rain in the coming days, it will be triggered by similar thunderclouds, according to the Met forecast.
The weather in the city over the next few days is likely to be hot and humid.
“The discomfort index is going to be on the higher side. The conditions are going to be extremely sweaty,” said the official.
This year, the monsoon reached Kolkata on June 18.
For much of its first leg, the absence of systems over the Bay threw up contrasting pictures.
While north Bengal was witnessing heavy rain, the south was dry.