Rain and thunderstorms close to the city prevented Kolkata’s maximum temperature from reaching 40 degrees Celsius on Friday, an official in the AliporeMet office said on Friday evening.
The weather office has issued a heat wave alert till June 7.
Friday’s maximum temperature — 39.6 degrees Celsius — was four degrees above normal. The minimum temperature on Friday was 30.8, which was three degrees above normal.
A heat wave is declared when the mercury breaches the 40-degree mark and the maximum temperature is at least five notches above normal, said a Met official.
“There were some rain and thunderstorms in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas. That led to a sudden fall in temperature in Kolkata,” said G.K. Das, director of the India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
A south Kolkata resident who was in Esplanade in the afternoon said the morning and the early afternoon had the sun blazing, but the weather improved because of the cloud cover.
Das said Kolkata could escape a heat-wave condition in the next few days but western districts of Bengal had a high possibility of experiencing heat wave.
“The weather in Kolkata would be hot, humid and uncomfortable,” he said.
There could be a short spell of rain in one or two pockets but that will not bring down the temperature in the city.
June 8 is the usual monsoon arrival date in Kolkata. Met officials in Kolkata said it is still too early to predict when the monsoon winds will finally reach south Bengal this year.
In the Indian mainland, the monsoon’s arrival in Kerala is followed by its northward surge. The usual date of its arrival in Kerala is June 1. But this year, Met officials have predicted a delay of three to four days.
“The monsoon usually takes around seven to 10days to reach Kolkata after reaching Kerala,” said a Met official.