Kolkata woke up to the coldest January morning in recent years on Tuesday as the mercury dipped to 10.2° Celsius.
For those who love their woollen and jackets, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast says the chill is likely to intensify over the next two days.
In 2025, the coldest day was 11 January when the temperature fell to 12.3°.
While the minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 6.7° Celsius below normal, the Met department said the maximum day time temperature is likely to remain three to five degrees below normal.
On Tuesday morning, along with the gusts of wind, a thick blanket of fog had also engulfed large parts of the city affecting visibility.
If Kolkata was cold at 10.2°, neighbouring Howrah and Dum Dum were colder at 9° and 9.5° respectively, pushing them into cold-wave territory.
Siliguri in the foothills was warmer at 10.6°.
In the last 15 years, according to the official data, only once more did Kolkata’s temperature dip under 11°. That was in 2023 when it touched 10.9°.
In December 2012, the city had recorded 10° as the lowest. The coldest January day in the city’s history remains 14 January 1989, when the temperature fell to 8.4°C.
The all-time low for the city is a day in December 1965, when the temperature plunged to 7.2° Celsius.
The Met office said the cold wave conditions in the southern districts are likely to deepen further with the mercury expected to dip by another 2° over the next two days. After which, the temperature is likely to remain stable for the rest of the week.
In the hills, Darjeeling shivered at 3.2° on Tuesday while in the plains Birbhum’s Sriniketan recorded 6.2°.
Dense fog, especially during the early morning hours, is likely to prevail across most of the districts over the next few days.
The Met department has advised the elderly and those with pre-morbidity to take precautions and avoid prolonged exposure to the cold as the chill intensifies.
