Overcast conditions dragged the Celsius down by several notches on Sunday, providing relief to Kolkatans tormented by scorching heat for a week.
The Met office recorded a maximum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius in Alipore on Sunday. It was five notches below normal and a drop of seven degrees from Saturday. There were intermittent drizzles in several parts of the city.
At 27.6 degrees Celsius, the minimum was still two notches above normal. But the slim gap between the maximum and minimum temperatures meant the day was pleasant.
“Thunderstorms with lightning, gusty winds and light to moderate rainfall are very likely over the districts of West Bengal during April 7 to 10,” said a Met bulletin issued on Sunday afternoon.
The conditions started changing in Kolkata from Saturday evening, which was breezy and pleasant.
The sky got very dark early in the morning and it looked like a sharp spell of rain was on its way. But it did not. The city experienced very light and intermittent rain throughout the day. But the sky was consistently cloudy and the day was breezy, marked by occasional streaks of lightning.
The conditions were pleasant enough for people to make the most of the Sunday.
Nazia Ali, a homemaker from Howrah, was sitting in the Maidan area with her family.
“For the past few days, it was almost impossible to stand near the oven in the kitchen. Today is a big relief,” said Nazia. During the past week, she would visit a mall almost every day to “cool” herself.
But the weather on Sunday prompted her to visit the Maidan.
Gurjant Singh, a Behala resident, came to the Alipore zoo with his family on Sunday.
“The weather last week was terrible. Any outdoor activity with children was impossible. Today seems a different world,” said Singh.
The start of April was marked by the beginning of this year’s first hot spell. It saw heatwave conditions in some districts where the Celsius crossed the 40-degree mark.
Kolkata and the remaining areas of south Bengal were under the grip of sultry conditions.
The first few days of the spell were marked by dry northwesterly winds. But from Thursday, the humidity level started going up, making the conditions more uncomfortable.
The spell was finally broken on Saturday evening. The next couple of days are unlikely to see the temperature shoot up.
On Sunday, thunderstorms were reported from across the state.
The Met office attributed the overcast conditions to a “trough/wind discontinuity from interior Odisha to north Tamil Nadu across Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Marathwada, interior Karnataka, which extends upto 1.5km above mean sea level, and moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal”.
The anticyclonic system that remained over the east-central Bay for much of last week is now over the northwest Bay, said an official.
The system is feeding moisture into Gangetic Bengal. As south Bengal felt like a cauldron, the system kept feeding moisture to Assam and Tripura and the entire northeastern India received uniform rain.
According to the Met office, thunderstorms are likely on Monday as well.
“On Monday, thunderstorms with lightning and gusty wind (speed reaching 40-50kmph) are likely to occur over Jhargram, East and West Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas districts. Thunderstorms with lightning and gusty wind (speed reaching 30-40kmph) are likely to occur over the remaining districts,” said the Met forecast.
In Kolkata, Monday is likely to see “a partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain/thundershowers”.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 30 and 25 degrees, respectively.