After a brief respite, parts of West Bengal are bracing for another round of thunderstorms and heavy rain beginning Saturday, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing yellow alerts for several districts in the southern region and warnings of heavy to very heavy rain in the north.
According to the Alipore Meteorological Centre, scattered rainfall may continue on Friday, with the weather expected to turn more intense from Saturday. Kolkata, along with districts such as Howrah, Hooghly, Purulia, Jhargram, Bankura, and Nadia, is likely to witness thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds blowing at speeds of 30–40 km/h.
Parts of West and East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, and North 24-Parganas may experience thunderstorms and rain both on Friday and Saturday. Rainfall is also forecast to continue in East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Birbhum, and Murshidabad through Sunday. In North Bengal, the IMD has warned of heavy rain in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, and North Dinajpur from Saturday onwards, with very heavy rain likely in these areas by Sunday.
The adverse weather is expected to persist through Monday. IMD officials said the southwest monsoon is currently very active over northern parts of the state, fuelling the likelihood of heavy downpours in the Himalayan foothill districts. Meanwhile, a low-pressure system that had lingered over South Bengal has shifted towards neighbouring Jharkhand and weakened. However, a cyclonic circulation remains active over the Gangetic Bengal region, maintaining the potential for isolated showers. Despite sunny intervals since Thursday after days of overcast skies and showers, forecasters caution that the clear weather is temporary. “Thunderstorms and intermittent rainfall are expected to return to southern Bengal from Saturday,” an IMD official said. On Friday, Kolkata recorded a minimum temperature of 27.8°C, 0.9°C above normal. Thursday’s maximum temperature was 33.2°C, marginally higher than average by 0.4°C.
The monsoon activity comes as parts of the state continue to deal with waterlogging and saturated soil conditions from earlier rainfall episodes, raising the risk of localised flooding and landslides, particularly in the hilly regions of north Bengal.