A system tipped to trigger heavy rain in Calcutta veered towards Bangladesh on Friday, the Met office said.

A consistent cloud cover, stray drizzles here and there, gusts of wind and a slide in the Celsius are what the city got.

The city sky is likely to remain cloudy in patches over the next couple of days on Ashtami and Navami. The maximum temperature is likely
to be under check, said a Met official.

“The depression has lost steam and is now a well-marked low-pressure zone. It will lead to some cloud formation. If the sun comes out strongly in phases, there is a chance of thunderstorms,” a Met official said on Friday evening.

The monsoon is expected to withdraw from Calcutta for this year over the next “three-four days”, which will lead to the entry of northwesterly winds into the city, said a Met official.

A low-pressure area that formed over the central Bay of Bengal on Tuesday subsequently intensified into a depression and was headed towards the Bengal-Bangladesh coast, the Met office said.

“The system was expected to gain steam and become a deep depression. It did not and remained a depression. It was supposed to make land-fall between Khepupara (Bangladesh) and Sagar Island (Bengal) on Friday afternoon. The depression kept moving more eastwards as it approached land,” said G.K. Das, the director of India Meteorological Centre, Calcutta.

Around 2.30pm on Friday, the depression was around 140km from Sagar Islands.

The system was too far from Calcutta to make any significant impact in terms of rain. But it led to a steady blanket of clouds and gusts of wind and a hint of cold.

“The cool and comparatively dry northerly winds came from Sikkim, bringing the mercury down, as the sun remained hidden behind the clouds,” said a Met official. Winds from the Bay of Bengal are moisture-laden and they trigger rain in Calcutta, he said.
The maximum temperature had been hovering around 35 degrees in the city for several days at a stretch. On Friday, the maximum temperature was 27.7 degrees, four

notches below normal. On Thursday, when the overcast conditions had set in, the maximum temperature was 27.6 degrees.

The monsoon, which stayed back in the city longer than usual, is finally set to withdraw for this year, said Das. “It should withdraw from Calcutta over the next three-four days. The withdrawal will be marked by the entry of northwesterly winds into the city,” he added.