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The winter chill is on its way back to the city after playing truant for about a week.
The minimum temperature dropped three degrees over two days to settle at 14.3 degrees Celsius, the normal level, on Tuesday. The maximum too dropped by more than two degrees since Sunday to touch the 24-degree mark, a couple of notches below normal.
The weatherman said the minimum was expected to drop by a degree daily over the next two days.
“I bought a jacket a couple of weeks back to cope with the cold and then spent most of last week ruing the purchase. Thankfully, the chill has returned,” said 30-year-old New Alipore resident Mansi Sharma, who works for a private bank.
On January 9, when Sharma bought the jacket, the minimum temperature measured by the Alipore Met office was 9 degrees Celsius. At Dum Dum, the minimum recorded was 6.6 degrees Celsius.
Last week, a western disturbance over north India and an anti-cyclonic circulation over eastern India blocked the path of the North Wind, the principal agent of cold in the Gangetic plains.
“The reactivation of the North Wind flow has paved the way for a decline in the minimum temperature. Besides the steady northwesterlies, south Bengal is experiencing a northeasterly flow as well,” said an official at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi.
“The minimum is likely to touch 12 degrees by Thursday and could go down further. However, another sub-10 phase is unlikely,” the official told Metro.
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