Friday, 19.8 degrees. Saturday, 19.1 degrees. Sunday, 18.3 degrees.

The Celsius is sliding in the city, thanks to the free flowing cold and dry winds from the upper reaches of the country.

The minimum temperature plunged to 18.3 degrees on Sunday, after staying in the 19-degree range for the two previous days. The early morning nip, being felt over the past few days, was stronger on Sunday.

“It was cold and windy. The weather was more like early December than early November,” said Sudip Raychowdhury, a 62-year-old Chetla resident and a regular morning walker at Rabindra Sarobar. He wore a light jacket and some of his acquaintances wore monkey caps, a cliché Calcutta proudly reinforces at the slightest hint of a shiver.

Stoles also made their seasonal debut in some parts of the city early on Sunday.

The hint of a chill is tipped to be disturbed from Tuesday, said a Met official. “A cyclonic circulation over the north Andaman sea will move towards the Bay of Bengal. The system is expected to inject moisture-laden easterly winds into south Bengal,” the official said.

The rise in moisture content in the air will stall the free flow of northwesterly into the city, leading to a rise in temperature.

“The minimum temperature is likely to start rising from Tuesday. It is tipped to reach 22 degrees in the coming days. But the cyclonic circulation, a local system, will dissipate before the next weekend,” said the Met official.

Once the system dissipates, the moisture content in the atmosphere will go down and pave the way for the re-entry of cold and dry winds from north India.

By Diwali, the hint of chill is expected to be back in the city, said the Met official.