Cyclone Bulbul lost steam through Sunday as it moved in a northeasterly direction along the Bangladesh coast, prompting the Met office to forecast sunny days and cooler nights in Calcutta at least for the next few days.

With Bulbul sucking away moisture in the air, the minimum temperature is likely to dip two to three degrees over the next two days, the Met office has said.

The drop in the night temperature was not a signal of an early onset of winter, a weather scientist clarified. “This is a temporary phase.”

Sunday’s maximum temperature was 27.6 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal. “The day temperature is likely to go up from Monday as the sky will clear up and there will be bright sunshine,” a Met department official said.

Bulbul made landfall around 7.30pm on Saturday between Sagar islands in the Sunderbans delta of Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh as a severe cyclonic storm. It had been raging over the Bay of Bengal as a very severe cyclonic storm the day before.

The storm kept losing steam as it moved in a north-eastern direction after hitting land. By 4am on Sunday, it had weakened into a cyclonic storm.

A Met bulletin issued at 5.30pm said the system had weakened into a deep depression and was positioned 140km east of the Sunderbans and 180km east of Calcutta. It was moving at less than 9kmph.

The system is tipped to further weaken into a depression and then fizzle out as it keeps moving towards Tripura.

There was no rain in Calcutta on Sunday but the sky remained clouded for the better part of the day. The sun came out briefly before noon.

Around 10.30pm on Saturday, when the storm was making landfall, the city saw gusts of wind clocking 60kmph for a few seconds. But strong winds of around 50kmph kept blowing for a longer duration. The Met office recorded 70mm of rain in Alipore on Saturday.

“The weather is expected to be fine from Monday. The sun will come out,” said G.K. Das, the director of India Meteorological Department, Calcutta.

“Bulbul has sucked out all moisture in the air. That will facilitate the free flow of dry winds from the northern and northwestern parts of the country from Monday. The temperature may go down two to three notches over the next two days.” he said.