At 19.6°C, Kolkata gets coldest October day in a decade

Kolkata: The city woke up to a sharp morning chill on Saturday as the minimum temperature plunged to 19.6°C, making it the coldest October day in a decade. On October 28, 2012, Kolkata had recorded a minimum temperature of 19.9°C. Ever since, minimum temperature had never dropped below the 20-degree mark in October till Saturday. The lowest October temperature ever recorded in Kolkata is 17.2°C on October 31, 1954.
Chilly northwesterly winds blowing in from the north Indian plains have led to the sudden chill, said the Met office. With monsoon having receded from the state, the wind direction has reversed. “Instead of southeasterly winds that prevail during the monsoon, the wind starts blowing in from the northeast and northwest once the monsoon currents withdraw. These winds carry in chill from north India. While the wind has started coming in from that direction, it is still not strong enough to carry in chill from the Himalayas. These winds are flowing in from the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh plains,” said RMC director G K Das.
It may take a month more for the temperature to drop significantly, said weathermen. “The northwesterly winds have just started flowing in. It is yet to flow in from the icy Himalayas. So, a sharp drop in temperature is unlikely before November-end,” said Das.
The minimum temperature will slide up to 21°C on Sunday and will hover around that mark for the next four-five days. The maximum, too, could slide up to 31°C. While Kolkata may have an occasional cloud cover, rain is unlikely. Early morning fog is a possibility as well.
Temperature starts dropping in Kolkata when the northwesterly winds blow in from the peaks of Kashmir. Winter is also marked by occasional showers triggered by western disturbances, systems that float into north Indian plains from the northwesterly mountains. The cloud cover often pulls down the mercury and leads to chilly spells. “We had several western disturbances striking the eastern region and Kolkata last winter. It led to several spells of low temperature. But it is still too early for western disturbances to strike,” said a weather scientist.
Last week, cyclone Sitrang struck the Bangladesh coast, grazing the Sundarbans. Contrary to fears, it didn’t trigger heavy showers in south Bengal, which remained largely unaffected.