The sky, which was cloudy for much of Saturday, turned ominously dark in the afternoon.
Around 3.30pm, the darkness reduced visibility on city roads. There was a hint of a cool breeze.
What followed was barely a drizzle, that too, in some parts only.
The clouds that enveloped the sky came from a cyclonic circulation over Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
Some help from the Bay of Bengal — in the form of significant moisture incursion — could have led to a stronger spell of rain in Kolkata, said a Met official.
But a high-pressure zone on the Bay descended south, moving away from the Bengal coast.
“A cyclonic circulation is over the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and adjoining Chhattisgarh. It is quite far from Bengal. A high-pressure zone or an anti-cyclone over the Bay of Bengal was close to the Bengal coast. But now, it has weakened and moved near the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu coastline,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
On February 20, just five days back the day temperature breached the 30-degree mark in Kolkata for the first time in three months, putting a formal stamp on the end of winter.
The heat and moisture from the high-pressure zone on the Bay combined to trigger a spell of thundershowers in south Bengal on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kolkata got a short but sharp spell of thundershowers on Thursday night.
The showers and the cloudy conditions have led to a marginal dip in the day temperature since.
On Saturday, the maximum temperature was 28.4 degrees, two notches below normal.
But the possibility of rain in south Bengal in the next few days has dimmed, Das said.
Under the influence of the circulation, a “fresh spell of enhanced rainfall activity accompanied with thunderstorm, hailstorm and lightning is likely” over central India on February 26 and 27, said a Met report.
While the system will send some clouds to south Bengal, they are unlikely to cause much rain because of the dip in moisture incursion from the Bay.
In Kolkata, the day temperature is likely to remain under 30 degrees for the next couple of days, according to the forecast.
“The sky is expected to remain partially cloudy. The clouds will keep the sun under check. In the absence of direct insulation, the day temperature is unlikely to shoot up,” said Das.