A cyclonic circulation hovering over the northwestern Bay of Bengal and adjoining coastal regions of Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha triggered heavy rainfall across the city and parts of West Bengal on Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warning of further downpours and thunderstorms in the coming days.
The incessant rain, which has been battering Kolkata and the districts, will continue till next week, with no immediate respite in sight, weather officials said today.
According to the Met office, Kolkata and seven districts of south Bengal will receive heavy rains on Thursday due to a cyclonic circulation over Gangetic West Bengal. In the remaining districts, thunderstorms with lightning will occur with wind speeds reaching 40 kilometres per hour.
According to the IMD’s Alipore Weather Office in Kolkata, districts including Hooghly and North 24-Parganas are likely to witness “light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied with intense rain” over the next two to three hours from 11.10 a.m.
The cyclonic circulation, combined with a monsoon trough stretching from Bikaner through Ranchi and Digha to the northeastern Bay of Bengal, is responsible for the wet spell. The IMD forecast light to moderate rainfall across a wide swath of Bengal over the next two days, with heavy to very heavy rain expected in isolated areas. East and West Burdwan, Birbhum, and Murshidabad are among those likely to receive heavy rainfall ranging from 7 to 11 cm. Northern districts such as Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, and Malda were placed under heavy rainfall alerts for Thursday, with the warning extended to South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, and Kalimpong on Friday. Rainfall is expected to intensify on Saturday, with Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, and Alipurduar placed under an orange alert for very heavy rainfall (7 to 20 cm).
The wet conditions are expected to continue through Monday across northern districts. In Kolkata, the sky remained overcast through Thursday with intermittent showers. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 25.7°C, about 0.9 degrees below normal, while Wednesday’s maximum temperature stood at 28.5°C, 4 degrees below average. Weather officials have urged residents to remain alert to possible localised flooding, especially in low-lying areas, and advised caution against lightning and strong gusty winds.