Chaturthi saw gloomy weather and sharp but isolated spells of rain in Calcutta, despite a Met forecast of “fair weather”.
Around 6pm, it was raining heavily in the heart of Calcutta. Pockets of CR Avenue had water just below the ankle. The shopping hub of Gariahat was also wet.
The morning was bright and sunny and Puja revellers stepped out, braving the hot and sweaty conditions. But by late afternoon, the sky had turned pale. Some pockets received a drizzle or two. Some others got sharper spells.
Ballygunge and College Street received around 20mm of rain between 2pm and 7pm, according to the pumping stations of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. During the same phase, there was zero rain on Dhapa and around 10mm in Behala Flying Club.
The Met office recorded around 3mm of rain in Alipore till 8.30pm on Saturday.
The Puja forecast from the Met office had said weather was likely to be “fair in the districts of South Bengal ”from “October 9 to 12”. The chances of rain and thunderstorms were “very less,” it said.
Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, the deputy director general of IMD, Calcutta, said on Saturday: “Fair weather in Met parlance does not mean bright sunshine all the time. It means the possibility of a weather system is almost discounted in a probabilistic forecast.”
He stuck to the forecast, saying there was little chance of severe rain for the next three days. “Conditions are favourable for the withdrawal of southwest monsoon from parts of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bengal over the next 48 hours. But since monsoon is still not gone, the chances of local thunderstorms cannot be ruled out..,” he said.
A low pressure area is tipped to increase the spread and intensity of rain in Calcutta from October 13, according to the Met forecast.
