A spell of rain accompanied by gusty winds lashed Calcutta early on Tuesday morning, bringing the first showers in nearly four months.
Many residents slept through the rain, which arrived before dawn. It was not a gentle drizzle. The maximum wind speed recorded at Dum Dum around 4.45am was 42kmph, a Met official said. In Alipore, winds touched just over 30kmph around the same time. In this part of the world, winds exceeding 60kmph are strong enough to fell trees.
The showers, however, provided only temporary relief from the early-summer vibes. According to the forecast, temperatures are set to climb again from Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the rain and cloud cover led to a sharp drop in the day temperature. The Met office recorded a maximum of 26.8° Celsius in Alipore, down from 31.2° the previous day. The temperature was nearly 4° below normal.
The weather system responsible for the showers has weakened, and the city is likely to remain dry for now. Humidity levels are also expected to stay relatively low for at least a couple of days, Met officials said. The maximum temperature on Wednesday is likely to hover around 30° Celsius.
Between 8.30pm on Monday and 8.30pm on Tuesday, Alipore recorded around 6mm of rainfall, most of it between 4.30am and 6am.
The last time the city received rainfall was on November 2 last year, though that spell was barely more than a drizzle.
“A trough extending from the Bengal coast to Andhra Pradesh was active. The system sent a lot of moisture inland. The heating of the land over the past few days combined with this moisture to form rain-bearing thunderclouds that brought gusty winds and rain,” a Met official explained.
By the second week of February, the long winter phase had ended. Over the past few days, daytime temperatures had climbed to uncomfortable levels, accompanied by rising humidity.
Tuesday’s rain offered a brief respite. Many early risers posted videos of the wet morning and overcast skies on social media. Children headed to school in raincoats.
“The rain did not last long, but most of the day remained cloudy. This explains the sharp fall in the maximum temperature,” the official at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore said. “The sun is expected to be bright again from Wednesday.”
Apart from Calcutta, thundershowers were reported in several south Bengal districts, including Nadia, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, East Midnapore, Purulia and West Burdwan.