The city woke up to a cloudy morning on Wednesday and the overcast condition will continue for another day or two before the sky clears up and chill returns to Kolkata, an official of the Alipore Met office said.
The northwesterly winds will start blowing into the city from late on Friday and the dip in temperature can be felt from Sunday or Monday.
The overcast sky on Wednesday morning was a result of moisture flow from the Bay of Bengal. The weather office said there could be little rain on Thursday morning.
“Thursday and Friday mornings will be foggy. There could be some rain late on Wednesday or early on Thursday,” said G.K. Das, director of the India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
“The cold northwesterly winds are likely to blow into the city from late on Friday. It will take some time for the minimum temperature to drop after that. It is likely that the temperature will drop from January 2 or 3,” Das said.
The minimum temperature, he said, will hover around 17 or 18 degrees for the next few days. Wednesday’s minimum was 17.4.
“The minimum will drop to 15 degrees or even lower from January 2. There is likely to be another spell of chill,” he said.
The maximum temperature will remain less than normal because of the cloud cover, which is preventing sunlight from heating the surface of the earth. Wednesday’s maximum temperature was 25.7 degree Celsius.
The city shivered on December 20 with the Celsius plunging to 11.2 degrees, which was four notches below normal.
It was also the coldest day in Kolkata since December 28, 2019, when the minimum temperature was 11.1 degree.
An official of the Alipore Met office said the western districts of Bengal were likely to receive rain because of a western disturbance.