Rains lashed parts of southern West Bengal on Sunday with more showers in the forecast over the next three days owing to the formation of cyclonic circulations, the weather office said.

Rains and gusty wind brought down day temperatures considerably in Kolkata and other neighbouring towns and cities.

Due to the formation of a cyclonic circulation over southwest Uttar Pradesh and another one over southern Chhattisgarh, and the moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal, thunderstorms with lightning along with gusty wind are very likely in West Bengal till Wednesday, the weather office said.

Kolkata, which recorded 14 mm rainfall till 5.30 pm, recorded a maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, it said.

A squall passed over the Alipore weather station in Kolkata with a maximum gust of 55 km at 5.25 pm and lasted a minute, while another one-minute-long squall passed over Dum Dum at 1.24 pm with a speed of 64 kmph, it said.

The inclement weather forced the Kolkata airport to divert four planes to Ranchi, officials said.

While one of the planes was coming from Imphal, the others were inbound from Agartala and Guwahati, they said.

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