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Winter is on its way out with the Celsius climbing steadily over the past few days, giving Calcuttans a feel of the season that lies ahead.
“Calcutta’s winter ends around February 7 or 8, which is only a couple of days away. In this time, both the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to rise. A slight drop in the second week of February isn’t ruled out but we can safely say that the chill won’t come back,” said a senior official at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore.
The maximum temperature rose from 25.4 last Saturday to 28.4 degrees on Sunday and then to 29.7 degrees Celsius on Monday, three notches above normal.
Humidity was also high through the day, making the weather sultry.
Even at 5.30 in the evening, the temperature read 25.4 degrees Celsius and relative humidity was 61 per cent.
“I had to step out of my office for a while around 2pm on Monday to meet someone. Barely five minutes outdoors and I was perspiring,” said Arijit Banerjee, whose office is in Salt Lake’s Sector V.
The weatherman said it would only get warmer and muggier from now on.
The forecast for Tuesday is a maximum temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius. If that happens, it will be the hottest the city has been in 73 days.
The Alipore Met office had recorded a maximum temperature of 30.1 degrees Celsius on November 24.
The minimum on Tuesday is expected to be around 17 degrees Celsius, a mark last touched over a month ago on January 2.
“There is a western disturbance near Pakistan that is blocking the flow of the north-westerly wind, which has lost its sting anyway. Then there is a cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh and its adjoining areas that is causing heavy incursion of moisture from the Bay of Bengal. This moisture is checking the flow of the north-westerly wind,” a weather scientist said.
This winter was an eventful one for Calcutta with the minimum temperature dropping to 14 degrees Celsius as early as November 30.
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