Day 3 of the monsoon in Kolkata was marked by rain that was not uniform.
Some parts of the city got a sharp spell of rain in the afternoon. The rest were largely dry.
A sunny day gave way to a cloudy afternoon. By 3.30pm, the Kolkata skyline looked dark and ominous.
But the rain that followed was uneven. Around 3.40pm, the intensity of rain in Esplanade, Park Street, Camac Street, Ballygunge and Gariahat was such that visibility was blurred. Traffic slowed down on Red Road, JL Nehru Road and other thoroughfares. Many two-wheeler riders huddled under giant trees in the Maidan area.
Bagbazar, Paikpara, Lake Town and other areas in the north, too, received heavy showers around the same time.
But areas like Baguiati and Kaikhali on the northern fringes and Behalaand Thakurpukur on the southern fringes were largely dry.
“The sky turned dark and rain looked inevitable. I removed the clothes that were left to dry on the balcony. But within half an hour, the clouds almost vanished. There was hardly any rain,” said a Kaikhali resident.
The clouds that brought rain to Kolkata on Wednesday came from the Sunderbans, said Met officials.
Met officials predicted more rain in Kolkata in the next few days.
“A trough of low pressure stretches from Punjab to Assam across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and north Bengal. The trough is tipped to come down, resulting in more moisture incursion from the Bay into south Bengal,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
The trough has been triggering heavy rain in the hills for the past few days. Places like Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong received heavy rain in the past 24 hours.
But as the trough descends, the volume of rainfall is poised to come down in north Bengal and rise in south Bengal, including Kolkata.
A low-pressure system is also expected to take shape over the northwest Bay of Bengal in the next “two to three days”, said a Met official.
The northwest Bay is closer to the Odisha coast. Odisha and neighbouring districts of East and West Midnapore are likely to get more rain once the system takes shape. But some moisture will also be headed Kolkata’s way, said the official.