Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal was lashed with the first spell of heavy pre-monsoon thundershowers, yesterday. The regional observatory at Alipore recorded 71mm and the airport Dum Dum measured 49mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, till 8.30 a.m. Thunderstorm activity started late in the evening and continued throughout the night. Weather conditions have improved since morning. Thunderstorm activity will resume again during the later part of the day.
Kolkata was reeling under extreme heatwave conditions, last week. Earlier, both the record observatories registered a high of 43°C on 30th April. Mercury hovered in the high 30’s in the first week of May. The temperature dropped to 35°C yesterday, nearly after two weeks. Heat wave conditions have abated from the city and suburbs. With the continuous weather activity during the night, the minimum temperature plunged about 5-6°C below the normal.
A cyclonic circulation is marked over Jharkhand and interior parts of Odisha in the lower levels. Anticyclonic winds from the Bay of Bengal are fueling moisture. Also, a trough is connecting the circulation, extending down south, running across Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Under the influence of these systems, Gangetic West Bengal has witnessed decent pre-monsoon showers. In addition to Alipore, Dum Dum, and Howrah, some more cities like Midnapore, Burdwan, Purulia, Bankura, Krishnanagar and Diamond Harbor received moderate showers.
The capital city, Kolkata is likely to receive pre-monsoon showers throughout the week, albeit with varying intensity and spread. Severe lightning, and strong peals of thunder, accompanied with howling gusty winds are likely during this period. The heat wave is not likely, until next week. The temperature will remain in the low 30’s, today and tomorrow. It may reach in mid 30’s between 09th and 12th May. Mercury will rise again, to hover in the high 30’s, next week. It may breach 40°C, yet again, by midweek next.
Click to see the live lightning and thunderstorm across India
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikipedia.org