Another cold spell, marking the farewell of this winter, is headed Kolkata’s way.
Starting Thursday, the mercury is set to slide, according to the Met forecast.
“By the weekend, the minimum temperature is likely to dip to 13 degrees,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
“The spell is going to last a few days. It is going to mark the end of peak winter. Even after that, the early morning temperature might be around 15 degrees or just a notch lower. But the biting chill will most likely be gone,” said Das.
The city’s tryst with the current winter was marked by three such cold spells.
The first one came in the second half of December, which saw the Celsius plunge to 11.2 degrees on December 20, the coldest day so far this winter. The second spell started on January 4 but lasted barely a couple of days. The third lasted from January 17 to 21 and was broken by the onset of a western disturbance.
The system had led to the formation of a trough of low pressure over eastern India. The trough and significant moisture flow from the Bay of Bengal had contributed to the formation of clouds over Kolkata and the rest of south Bengal.
Though the city hardly received a spell or two of drizzle in the past couple of days, the sky was cloudy. The system has now weakened, clearing the passage for northwesterly winds, said a Met official.
“Northwesterly winds have started flowing in again. There are some easterly winds from the Bay but they are losing steam. In the lower levels of the atmosphere, there is a confluence of the two sets of winds,” said Das.
The confluence has been injecting some moisture into the air and is tipped to keep the sky partially cloudy on Wednesday as well. But from Thursday, the sky is set to clear and the mercury to dip, according to the forecast.