Cold conditions are expected to persist in West Bengal over the next few days, the Meteorological office said on Wednesday, with minimum temperatures likely to drop further.
Tuesday was recorded as the coldest day in Kolkata in the last 13 years, with the city’s temperature falling to 10.2 degrees Celsius. Similar weather continued on Wednesday, when the minimum temperature was 10.3 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees below normal.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Kolkata’s Alipore said that such conditions would prevail in south Bengal until Saturday. “Along with the intense cold, fog will prevail in the mornings in most districts, including Kolkata. Cold wave and ‘cold day’ conditions will persist in some districts. However, the temperature may rise slightly by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius over the weekend,” an RMC official said.
On Tuesday, the maximum temperature in Kolkata was 18 degrees Celsius, 6.7 degrees below normal. Since Wednesday morning, clear skies and quickly dissipating fog are expected to help daytime temperatures rise.
On Wednesday morning, Dum Dum, on the city outskirts, recorded 9.8 degrees Celsius, while Sriniketan in Birbhum district was the coldest place in south Bengal at 6.6 degrees Celsius.
Among western districts, East Burdwan and Birbhum are likely to experience cold wave conditions on Thursday. Birbhum may continue to experience such conditions until Friday morning.
Additionally, six other districts in south Bengal — Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, West Burdwan, Murshidabad, and Nadia — are expected to experience ‘cold day’ conditions, defined as a minimum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius or lower and a maximum temperature at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal. North Bengal is not expected to experience cold wave conditions at this time.
All districts of south Bengal, including Kolkata, will remain foggy until Saturday, with visibility potentially dropping between 999 and 200 metres in some areas. A dense fog warning has been issued for North 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Nadia.
In North Bengal, dense fog is forecast in eight districts, with visibility potentially dropping between 50 and 199 metres. Dense fog warnings will also remain in effect for Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts on Thursday.
–IANS
