The monsoon is set to hit the city in the next 24 hours, though it made little progress on Sunday. “The monsoon has covered Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and parts of Sikkim. We expect it to cover the rest of Bengal in the next 24 hours,” said G.C. Debnath, the director of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Alipore, on Sunday.

“Substantial pre-monsoon showers” are likely to herald the monsoon to the city. “A low-pressure trough over Gangetic Bengal is sucking in a large quantity of moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The trough is helping in the development of thunderclouds,” a Met official told Metro.

“A cyclonic circulation (anti-clockwise movement of air) over Bihar and the adjoining sub-Himalayan districts also brought in moisture from the sea,” added the official.

Most parts of the city woke up to an overcast sky on Sunday. As the day wore on, there were drizzles in some areas, dragging both the maximum and minimum temperatures below the normal mark.

While the monsoon is likely to keep the mercury in check, the prospect of waterlogged streets is leaving Calcuttans in a cold sweat. “The rains will definitely provide respite from the dreadful sultry weather but I don’t fancy wading through inundated streets,” said Samrat Dutta, an MBA student who has to attend classes in College Street, among the areas worst affected by waterlogging.

Taxi driver Ashish Jain has other problems to contend with. “The maintenance cost of the taxi shoots up during monsoon. Business, too, suffers. I don’t think rains can be good news in a city like Calcutta,” he said.