Kolkata gets coldest March day in 10 years

KOLKATA: Saturday was the coldest March day at least in a decade. At 15.5°C, the mercury had slipped five notches below the normal mark. The closest to this was in 2011, when the mercury plummeted to 15.7°C on March 2. Though the mercury is unlikely to dip further, Met office says the pleasant weather is here to stay for a few more days.

Those who love the showers can expect another round of wet spell as the Met office has predicted rain and thundershower on Monday and Tuesday. This will ensure the mercury doesn’t shoot up abruptly.

“There are chances of rain or thunderstorm on both the days in Kolkata under the influence of a western disturbance,” said Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, deputy director general of meteorology at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata. A western disturbance is an extra-tropical storm originating from the Mediterranean that can affect the Indian sub-continent with winter rain, hailstorm or snowfall.

In addition to a western disturbance, a trough line over Jharkhand and Bihar is making the possibility of rain stronger. “Moisture is being injected from Bay of Bengal into the coastal areas of Bengal. This will also help bring rain or thudnerclouds,” said GK Das, director (weather) at RMC.

Last week, the maximum and well as the minimum temperature had gone up to as high as 32.3°C and 21.2°C, respectively. But the spells of thunderstorm had started pushing the mercury down. After the clouds started disappearing from the skies from Thursday and the sun shinning bright from Friday, decks were cleared from the temperature to climb down the Celsius scale. From Friday’s 17.1°C, the minimum temperature dropped to 15.5°C in 24 hours.

“Saturday was the coldest March day at least in a decade. We expect the mercury to rise slightly but it would be below normal for few more days. So the weather will remain pleasant,” added Das.

According to data available with IMD, the all-time record for lowest March minimum temperature in Kolkata was on March 2, 1899, when the mercury had plummeted to 10°C. In 2018, Kolkata recorded a minimum temperature of 19.6°C on March 8.

The rain last week had caught the civic body off the guard. Many stretches in the city were inundated. Hailstorm affected many areas in south Bengal. But the Met office does not expect the thundershower to be that severe this time.