Kolkata: The maximum temperature rose to the season’s highest in the city on Friday. From 31°C on Thursday, it surged to 33.7°C. Although it was only 0.1 notches above the normal mark, the nearly 3°C rise from Thursday made the city sweat. The minimum temperature touched 26.2°C, 3.6 notches above normal. Met officials, however, see rain respite by Sunday, when the city is expected to be under the spell of thundershowers.The Met office predicted rain in the city and parts of south Bengal between Sunday and Tuesday. Once that happens, the mercury is likely to dip by 2°C-3°C. Before Thursday, the day temperature was below the normal mark for seven days at a stretch.“The mercury is likely to rise slightly on Saturday. But we expect it to dip again due to the expected thundershower activities between Sunday and Tuesday. We can expect the temperature to dip by 2°C-3°C to hover around and slightly below the normal mark once again,” said meteorologist H R Biswas, head at the RMC, Kolkata.Met officials said the March maximum temperature in Kolkata can go up as high as 40°C in the absence of rain. In fact, in March 2021, it shot up close to 40°C when the city had no rain throughout the month. In years when the month saw frequent rain spells, the highest maximum temperature hovered between 34°C and 36°C.While a spell of thundershowers lashed parts of north Kolkata and the northern fringes of the city on Thursday, the southern part remained largely dry. Salt Lake recorded a rainfall of 19 mm, which occurred during a sharp spell of around 20 minutes. Neighbouring Dum Dum recorded 5 mm of rainfall on Thursday night.Many southern districts, too, were hit by a few spells of thundershowers on Thursday. Met officials said this was due to strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal caused by a cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal.Later, the thunderstorm activities shifted to north Bengal. Places in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Kalimpong logged between 135 mm and 100 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours. “By Sunday, the rain intensity there will start coming down, while parts of south Bengal will again be under the spell of thundershowers, lightning and gusty wind,” Biswas said.Kolkata is currently getting a mix of southerly and south-westerly wind. This wind system is expected to change to easterly or south-easterly by Sunday, which, in turn, will inject moisture to push up thundercloud formation.
