Long spells of heavy rain were missing but a cloud cover and showers here and there cooled the city on Friday like it has not known for a long time.

Eighty-three days, to be precise.

The maximum temperature on Friday was 31.1 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal and over two degrees below Thursday’s reading.

The last time the mercury dipped below 30 degrees in the city was on May 4, when the Celsius clocked 29.1. The Alipore Met office had recorded 41mm of rain that day.

Calcuttans, reeling under sweltering conditions for most of July, grabbed the pleasant weather with both arms. Social media was abuzz with

people uploading pictures of the rain from their homes and offices.

The Met office has some good news — the city’s wait for rain this monsoon was over and the last week of July is likely to remain wet.

A low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is tipped to bring more rain over the next two days to the city and the rest of south Bengal, the Met office said.

The system is not very strong but has pulled the monsoon trough down from the foothills of the Himalayas.

“The intensity of rain in north Bengal is expected to decline in the coming days and south Bengal is expected to get rain,” said G.K. Das, director, India Meteorological Department, Calcutta.

“The final week of July will see sustained, if not heavy, rainfall in coastal Bengal. Another low-pressure area is expected to form over the Bay of Bengal around July 31.”

Till late evening on Friday, Joka had received around 14mm of rain and Cossipore around 12mm, according to figures with the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Santoshpur received 10mm and Ultadanga 4mm.

All parts of Calcutta received some rain on Friday and Met officials said it was a signal that a wet spell had started. Some areas on the southern fringe received overnight rain and another round of showers since the afternoon.

The Celsius clocked 35 degrees on 13 days this month, making it the hottest July in Calcutta in at least five years.

The cumulative rain deficit for Calcutta was around 65 per cent on Thursday.

“The gap will be reduced in the coming days but will not be bridged unless there are some days of heavy rain,” said Das.