Sashthi began bright and sunny, but the sky soon turned partly cloudy with light rain reported in some areas.
According to a Met bulletin issued on Sunday, heavy rain is expected in Calcutta on Dashami (October 2). Showers are likely from Saptami to Navami, though the rainfall is not expected to be heavy throughout this period, said Met officials.
Humidity remained high all day, with minimum relative humidity reaching a significant 63%. This made pandal hoppers sweat profusely, while soft drink stalls saw brisk business.
The Met bulletin stated: "A trough runs from the well-marked low pressure area over west Vidarbha and adjoining north-central Maharashtra to west-central Bay of Bengal across south Chhattisgarh, north coastal Andhra Pradesh... An upper air cyclonic circulation is likely to emerge on the north Andaman Sea on September 30. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is likely to form over north and adjoining central Bay of Bengal around October 1. Light to moderate rainfall is likely in most places over Bengal with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely over some districts between October 2 and 4."
On October 2, South 24-Parganas could receive very heavy rainfall between 7-20cm, while Calcutta and districts including East and West Midnapore, North 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, and Nadia are forecast to get heavy rain ranging from 7-11cm, the bulletin said. On October 3, heavy rain is expected in West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, East and West Burdwan, Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Jhargram.
The low-pressure area, which was a depression over south interior Odisha on Saturday, moved westwards and weakened over west Vidarbha and adjoining north-central Maharashtra by Sunday morning. The system made landfall in south Odisha, too far to have any significant impact on south Bengal.
"It is likely to weaken further in the next 24 hours. It is likely to continue to move nearly westwards... and emerge as a low-pressure area over northeast Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast by October 1," said a bulletin.