The maximum temperature on Wednesday was the lowest the city has seenin over a fortnight but the soaring humidity kept up the torment.

For much of the day, the city sky was cloudy. The floodlights at the Eden Gardens — which is hosting the Bengal Pro T20 League — had to be switched on around 2pm. But there was no rain.

Monsoon, on which the city — and much of south Bengal — has set its sights for some relief, was “two to three days away”, said a Met bulletin.

Even after its onset, south Bengal is unlikely to get heavy rain, said a Met official.

The Met office recorded a maximum temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius in Alipore — the official recordkeeper for Calcutta — on Wednesday. The last time the maximum temperature was lower was on June 3 (33.9 degrees).

But Wednesday saw a maximum and minimum relative humidity of 84 and 72 per cent, respectively.

Around 1.15pm, the temperature was around 34 degrees. But the RealFeel soared to 46 degrees as the humidity quotient was 75 per cent. It means that the moisture content in the air was over 80 per cent for a bulk of the day.

North Bengal is likely to continue getting drenched, said a Met bulletin issued on Wednesday. “The northern limit of monsoon continues to pass through Islampur (North Dinajpur). Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some parts of South Bengal, remaining parts of North Bengal during next 2-3 days,” the Met bulletin said.

“A cyclonic circulation lies over northeast Bangladesh and neighbourhood at 0.9km above mean sea level. A trough in lower tropospheric westerlies runs... between 1.5km and 3.1km above mean sea level. Due to the above system and strong moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal, heavy to very heavy rainfall... very likely to continue over the northern districts of North Bengal.” it stated.