Monsoon arrives in Kolkata, set to cover South Bengal by Wednesday

KOLKATA: Monsoon arrived in the city on Monday with a spell of showers early in the day, bringing relief from an exhausting spell of heatwave-like conditions. According to the Alipore Met office, it is likely to spread across the rest of south Bengal in 48 hours.

The monsoon has covered some parts of North & South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Hooghly, East Burdwan and Kolkata, according to a bulletin released by the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), which added that conditions were "favourable" for its further advance over "some more parts of Gangetic West Bengal during the next 48 hours." Heavy and extremely heavy rainfall was likely to continue in north Bengal - where it had arrived on June 12 - until June 23, after which the intensity of the rain is likely to reduce, the bulletin said.
RMC director G K Das said the advent of monsoon would mean a fall in both maximum and minimum temperatures, ending prolonged heatwave-like conditions and humid and uncomfortable weather. The daily temperatures, he said, would fall "down to approximately the normal range."
The advent of monsoon in south Bengal is unique this year, as it was not preceded by pre-monsoon conditions, during which clouding from the advancing southwest monsoon causes occasional showers, aided by the entry of moisture from the Bay of Bengal. Last week's showers were caused by local clouds gathering land moisture or from smaller weather systems like troughs passing from neighbouring states. "One criterion for monsoon is static clouds. This was one of the indications that that monsoon had arrived. Earlier, we had expected at least one spell of pre-monsoon," Das said.
Max temp drops to 31.1°C in city
Since monsoon entered north Bengal on June 12, experts expected it to arrive in south Bengal in five days. The development of Cyclone Biparjoy was expected to delay monsoon in south Bengal but the smooth flow of moisture from the Bay of Bengal enhanced its advancement to the southern parts of the state and brought it close to the earlier-predicted timeline.
"The monsoon will gradually intensify over July. From Thursday, we will find an increased frequency of smaller systems developing over the Bay, like low-pressures or depressions," Das said.
The maximum rain recorded as a result of Monday's first monsoon showers was 40mm at Dum Dum, with spells of lesser intensity elsewhere. After the morning spell, the maximum tempera-ture fell to 31.1°C. The maxim-um may stay in this range unt-il June 23, while the minim-um is likely to be below 28°C.