The city was overcast for the better part of Sunday but received only negligible rain.
There were strong gusts of wind in the afternoon and evening.
Most of the south Bengal districts witnessed rain, accompanied by streaks of lightning and strong gusts of wind.
At least one lightning death was reported till late on Sunday.
A 36-year-old Trinamul worker was killed and 42 others were injured by lightning strikes in Bankura’s Indus during a Trinamul Congress meeting on Sunday evening.
The rain was intense in Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and Hooghly and pockets of North and South 24-Parganas.
Till 8.30pm, the Met office recorded less than 5mm of rain in Alipore, which serves as the official record for Kolkata.
“Dum Dum, Salt Lake and northern fringes of Kolkata were rainier than south Kolkata. Barrackpore was among the places that got hailstorms,” said a Met official.
Kolkata and surrounding areas were affected by two sets of clouds on Sunday. The first set came in the afternoon and triggered rain and winds on the northern fringes.
Dum Dum recorded a maximum wind speed of 64kmph at 1.24pm.
The second spell started around 5pm. This time, the clouds brought some rain to south Kolkata. The Met office recorded a wind speed of 55kmph in Alipore around 5.25pm. The coming days are likely to be rainy, according to the forecast.
“There are two cyclonic circulations, one over southwest Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring areas and another over south Chhattisgarh and neighbouring areas. There is strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal. The districts of Bengal are likely to remain wet till May 3,” said a Met official.
On Sunday, the clouds that came via Jharkhand moved towards Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad and Malda. The ones that came to Kolkata were from East and West Midnapore, said the official.
On May 1, “thunderstorm with lightning along with gusts of wind and hailstorm is very likely over Birbhum, East and West Burdwan,Murshidabad and Nadia districts,” said a Met bulletin on Sunday.
The rest of the districts, including Kolkata, are also likely to get thunderstorms but the wind speed could be marginally lower, the forecast said.
Darjeeling and adjoining districts of north Bengal are likely to get heavy rain, along with hailstorm and winds, said the forecast.
