Kolkata gets season's coldest day so far with mercury dipping to 12.7 degree Celsius

By: Prthvijit Mitra
KOLKATA: The mercury dropped to 12.7°C in Kolkata on Thursday, making it the season's coldest day so far.
The chill could get sharper on Friday, with the minimum temperature dropping another degree, the Met office said. An intense northwesterly wind that has been flowing in at great speed since Wednesday has triggered the chill. It could continue till the weekend, after which, the mercury may start rising gradually.

The maximum temperature, too, remained three notches below normal at 21.7°C for the second consecutive day. As a result, the chill persisted through Thursday. "With the northwesterly having gained speed, the chill factor has gone up. It has pulled the day temperature down. The minimum could slide further on Friday, which is set to be the season's coldest day. We expect the weekend to remain cold, after which, there will be a slow rise in temperature," said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director G K Das.
But there could be more chilly spells in the coming weeks, Das added. "The mercury will keep sliding down depending on conditions. So, we are not ruling out the possibility of another spell," he said, adding that the fog that had been hovering above the city has now dissipated.
The mercury has been on a roller-coaster ride since last week, with both the minimum and maximum temperatures jumping up and down. While last week, the minimum temperature had touched 20 degrees, the maximum dropped to 21.8°C on Wednesday, three notches below normal. The minimum had plunged to 14.1°C even as the northwesterlywind gained momentum and carried in chill from the north Indian plains.
The average maximum and minimum temperat-ures in January are 25.8°C and 14.1°C, respectively, according to the Met statis-tics compiled over the past three decades.
Normally, January 1 to 15 is the coldest period of the year. Kolkata recorded its lowest temperature so far this season on December 17, with the minimum touching 13.2°C.