Persistent showers marked much of Monday and the early morning of Tuesday in Kolkata.
But the rain stopped and the sky seemed to be clearing as the day progressed.
The Met office, however, has predicted more rain in the city. “More showers are likely on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” said an official.
The intensity of the showers will go up if the monsoon trough descends from
the foothills of the Himalayas. But that depends on a
cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh.
“A cyclonic circulation over north Bangladesh was supposed to have descended south. It was supposed to have been over the Bay of Bengal. But the system still persists over north Bengal. The descent of the system would have led to a similar descent of the monsoon trough. But now, the trough is also stationed at the foothills of the Himalayas,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
“But the circulation is expected to come down. So is the trough. It should happen by Thursday. Any downward movement of the trough will bring it closer to Kolkata,” he said.
The western end of the trough now runs through Cooch Behar, according to the daily weather report of the Met office.
Until the trough descends, the sky over Kolkata is likely to remain cloudy and sunny in phases. Some rain is likely.
Places like Malda, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad are not far from the core influence area of the circulation, said a Met official. As a result, these places are getting more rain. Kolkata is outside that core influence area.
If the circulation and trough come down, Kolkata and neighbouring areas are likely to be covered by the core influence area.
Between 8.30pm on Monday and 8.30pm on Tuesday, the Met office recorded around 11mm of rain in Alipore. But most of it happened before 10am on Tuesday.