August has fared better than July in terms of rainfall in Kolkata.
The next few days, are, however, likely to be hot and sweaty in the city. Any rain would be in the form of local showers, likely to only push the discomfort index up, said Met officials.
A fresh system is likely to take shape over the Bay of Bengal, around September 2, they said.
Between August 1 and 28, the Met office recorded around 324.7mm of rain in Alipore, compared with the usual volume of 346.2mm in the said period. It translates to a deficit of six per cent.
The cumulative rain deficit this monsoon — from June 1 to August 28 — stands at 35 per cent in the city, said a Met official.
“The deficit is mainly on account of a lacklustre July,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
“August has been average. The city has hardly received heavy rain on one day, but there have been multiple days of moderate rainfall,” he said.
So far this month, Kolkata has got around 15 days of rain. Heavy rain lashed the city between Thursday evening and Friday evening, when Alipore got around 75mm of rain.
In Met parlance, 60mm of rain in 24 hours qualifies as heavy.
Before that, a deep depression on the Bay had triggered heavy rain in some pockets of the city on August 2.
“The monsoon trough is now at the foothills of the Himalayas,” said a Met official, ruling out the possibility of significant rain in Kolkata over the next three days.
The city received a spell of rain in the afternoon. The showers were attributed to the formation of local clouds. Alipore received around 5mm of rain.
“Southwest monsoon is moderate to strong over South Bay of Bengal and Andaman sea; weak to moderate over Central Bay of Bengal; weak over North Bay of Bengal,” said the daily weather report issued by the IMD.
However, a low-pressure area is likely to take shape over the Bay of Bengal around September 2, a Met official said.
Whether Kolkata will get drenched because of the system depends on where it takes shape, said the official.
The system is likely to drag the trough down.
The monsoon trough is an imaginary line connecting various low-pressure points from west to east.
The monsoon trough keeps oscillating. When it is over the foothills of the Himalayas, north Bengal and the Northeast get rain. When it descends to the northern Bay, coastal Bengal receives rain.