Rain likely in South Bengal next week, predicts weatherman

Kolkata: The city on Friday saw a sudden drop in temperature as mercury slided down by around 5 degree Celsius giving a sense of winter cold to the city dwellers.

Kolkata on Friday registered the lowest temperature of the day 17.7 degree Celsius whereas on Thursday it stood at 23.5 degree Celsius which was 5.8 degrees above normal. The MeT office had earlier announced that the winter will withdraw in February. It is a twist as Kolkata’s temperature took a dip of 5 degrees overnight.

This winter cold will not, however, stay for long as the mercury will again go up, the MeT office added. Moreover, there is a chance of rain in South Bengal next week. The night temperatures could fall another three to four degrees over the next couple of days. Alipore MeT office stated that both north and south Bengal will see a drop in temperature. By Monday, mercury may rise by 2-3 degrees. “Light rain is expected in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas, as well as East and West Midnapore on Wednesday and Thursday next week. The rest of South Bengal may stay dry. Also, a fog warning has been issued for several districts, including North and South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore, West Burdwan, Birbhum, and Murshidabad,” a weather official said.

A dense fog alert has been issued for Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur. Temperature in Kolkata went up by 7 degrees between February 9-11.

The MeT office, however, made it clear that mercury might again go down by a few notches in the weekend but the cold spell would not last for long. According to the prediction of the Indian Meteorological Department, February this year will be warmer and drier than normal across most parts of the country. Incidentally, January 2025 was the third warmest January in India since 1901, with an average temperature of 18.98°C, the MeT office said.