The Celsius almost touched 40 degrees in Calcutta on Sunday and a soaring humidity made the conditions unbearable.

Around 12.30pm on Sunday, the temperature was 37 degrees. But it felt like 52, as a humidity quotient of 65 per cent pushed up the RealFeel.

The Met office recorded a maximum temperature of 39.2 degrees in Alipore, five notches above normal. Dum Dum was hotter at 39.4 degrees.

As Calcuttans continued to reel under the twin assault of heat and humidity, the Met forecast offered little hope. The sultry and sweaty conditions will prevail for now, said the weather department.

“Widespread rain is unlikely for the next few days. The monsoon is also unlikely to enter south Bengal till at least Thursday. Local thunderstorm activities are not ruled out,” said a Met official.

While hot and humid conditions are likely in most districts of south Bengal, a heat wave warning has been issued for West Midnapore and West Burdwan.

South Bengal was scalded by a prolonged heat wave that ended in the first week of May.

The high humidity is making even the nights warmer than usual. The minimum temperature on Sunday was around 30 degrees, three notches above normal.

“High humidity prevents the Celsius from falling significantly,” said a Met official.

Sunday was the hottest day in the city in over a month. On May 1, when south Bengal was reeling under a prolonged heat wave, the maximum temperature had reached 42 degrees. On May 2 and 3, the maximum was 39.2 degrees.

The minimum relative humidity on Sunday was close to 60 degrees. “It means the humidity was over 70 per cent for the better part of the day,” said the Met official.

The effect was visible. Around 1pm, the Sealdah flyover was deserted. As were Chowringhee, SP Mukherjee Road and Diamond Harbour Road.

Even the morning was not pleasant. The number of morning walkers was lower than usual at places like Rabindra Sarobar and the Victoria Memorial.

“A 1km walk drained me like a 4km walk,” said Sunil Chokhani, a Ballygunge resident who goes to Rabindra Sarobar every morning.

Arpan Mukherjee, who works at a retail menswear outlet at a city mall, wore a formal shirt around 10am as he was getting ready for work. “I polished my shoes and wore them. It took less than 10 minutes. But my shirt got so drenched in sweat that I had to change it,” said Mukherjee, who lives in Behala.

Weekend hotspots like the Alipore zoo and the Maidan, too, wore a deserted look.

Around 3pm, only one group was playing a game of cricket on a slice of the Maidan near Fort William. An hour earlier, hawkers seemed to outnumber the visitors at the gates of the Alipore zoo.

H.R. Biswas, head of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Calcutta, said the conditions were unlikely to change in the next few days.

“The humidity that is causing the discomfort is near the surface of the earth. The moisture convergence in the lower level of the atmosphere that triggers the formation of thunderclouds is missing in south Bengal. The wind patterns are favourable for convergence over north Bengal, which is receiving uniform rainfall,” said Biswas.

The arrival of the southwest monsoon can bring widespread rain, which can comfort the city. But the monsoon is unlikely to enter Calcutta and south Bengal till at
least Thursday, said the Met office.

The monsoon arrived in north Bengal on May 31, ahead of its usual date of June 5.

For south Bengal, the usual date of its arrival is June 10.

“The wind patterns are not favourable for the arrival of the monsoon in south Bengal. It is unlikely to arrive in the next three to four days,”
said Biswas.