The city sky was overcast throughout Friday, following a spell of thundershowers the night before.
There was hardly any rain on Friday in Kolkata but the sky was cloudy and the conditions breezy.
As a result, the maximum temperature plunged to 26.4 degrees Celsius, a staggering eight notches below what is normal for mid-March.
The day temperature was under check on Thursday as well, with the Met office recording a maximum temperature of 31.9 degrees Celsius in Alipore. But on Thursday, the moisture count in the atmosphere had shot up the minimum temperature to 25.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. On Friday, the minimum temperature also dipped to 20.7 degrees, three notches below normal.
The moisture content in the atmosphere was higher on Friday than it was the day before. But the minimum temperature still dipped significantly on account of the rain.
The Met office stuck to its forecast of thundershowers across south Bengal, including Kolkata, till Monday.
“A fresh trough of low-pressure has taken shape from west to east. The trough extends from Rajasthan to Bangladesh via Jharkhand and Bengal. The conditions are conducive for thunderstorms across south Bengal,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata.
Kolkata was struck by a spell of thundershowers on Thursday night, one that broke a 145-day dry spell in the city.
The showers were preceded by twin squalls. The conditions turned windy from breezy around 10pm. At 10.37pm, the Met office recorded a gust clocking 48kmph in Alipore.
Minutes later, a maximum windspeed of 64kmph was recorded at Dum Dum at 10.52pm, said a Met official.
The rain came soon after. The Met office recorded only 2.6mm of rain in Alipore between 8.30am on Thursday and 8.30am on Friday, all of it happening between 10pm and 11.30pm, as was the case for most areas in and around Kolkata, said the Met official.
Dum Dum received around 28mm of rain in the same period. On Friday, thundershower activities were reported from Malda, Murshidabad, North and South Dinajpur, Birbhum, Purba and Paschim Bardhaman, Nadia, Purulia, Howrah and Hooghly.
“Kolkata is likely to get thundershowers on Saturday as well. But maximum rain is expected on Sunday and Monday,” said Das of IMD.