12.2mm rain brings max-min difference to 2°C, more showers on Met radar
Times of India | 19 June 2025
12 Kolkata: More than 35 mm rain between Tuesday and Wednesday evening narrowed the gap between the maximum and minimum temperatures to just two degrees. Even as the city received 12.2 mm of rainfall until late Wednesday evening, the Met office has not ruled out a few intense spells till Thursday. The low-pressure area that is triggering the current spells is over south Bengal, and this system will continue to bring more rain for now.The maximum temperature, which started dipping below the normal mark by Tuesday, plunged further down to 27.7°C, which was 6.1 notches below the normal mark and also the lowest this month. The minimum temperature also dipped to 25.7°C, 1.3°C below the normal mark.Meteorologists said that the narrow gap between the two levels is because of the rain and cloudiness, which kept the maximum temperature significantly below the normal mark. The southwest monsoon arrived in Kolkata and the rest of south Bengal on Tuesday, riding on the low-pressure system, triggering a decent amount of rain — 23 mm — on the first day. While Alipore recorded only 12.2 mm of rain on the second day of the monsoon's arrival, some pockets experienced intense showers, including Behala receiving close to 60 mm of rainfall.The low-pressure area, which was over southwest Bangladesh and adjoining Gangetic Bengal on Tuesday, has now moved in the west-northwest direction as a well-marked low-pressure area over Gangetic Bengal and the neighbourhood. The system has an associated upper air cyclonic circulation extending up to 7.6 km above mean sea level, tilting southwards with height, according to a special weather bulletin from IMD. This system is likely to cross over to Jharkhand."We are not ruling out the possibility of some intense showers in Kolkata and the surrounding areas as the low-pressure area has become a well-marked system over Gangetic Bengal and the neighbourhood. There can be a few intense spells between Wednesday night and Thursday morning," said meteorologist HR Biswas, head of the weather forecast section at the Regional Meteorological Centre."As the low-pressure system moves away from Bengal, the rain intensity will decrease from Friday. But the city and other parts of south Bengal will continue to get light to moderate rain as the monsoon current is in an active phase," added Biswas.