The “city of Joy” has not witnessed the real cold as yet as night temperatures that are expected to remain in the range of 15ºC during mid-December have been above 16ºC during this period. They are still above normal by 2 to 3ºC and if the current weather conditions continue, the night temperatures are expected to be around 17 to 18ºC on December 25 thus leaving Christmas celebrations usually warmer than normal.
Last year, the minimum temperature was 12ºC on December 25 whereas; it is expected to be around 17ºC this year showing a jump of around 5ºC from the last year. The coming Christmas is not only warmer than the last year, but if current trend of temperature continues in the coming days then this could be warmest Christmas in last five year. The minimum temperature on December 25 in 2007 was 14.3ºC and in 2008 it was 12.9 ºC. In 2009, the night temperature was 12.4ºC while in 2010 it was 15ºC.
Skymet weather cites the continuous flow of Western Disturbance over the Himalayan region as the main reason behind the above normal minimum temperatures. “ There have been numerous Western Disturbances in the last few days over the Himalayan region that obstructed cool northerly winds from reaching Kolkata. A fresh Western Disturbance is expected over Jammu & Kashmir on December 23. This weather system would again disrupt the cool wind penetrations over Kolkata around December 25 to raise the minimum temperature to around 16 to 17ºC,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at Skymet.
Photograph by Meena Kadri