The season's strongest Nor'wester lashed Calcutta at 81kmph on Wednesday afternoon, snapping branches and tearing billboards across the city.

The howling wind uprooted a tree that fell on a parked car in front of the Eden Gardens. No one was injured.

In Howrah, two women were injured when a wall collapsed on them.

A Mumbai-Calcutta Indigo flight had to be diverted to Ranchi because of the storm.

SEASON’S STRONGEST NOR’WESTER RAGES THROUGH CITY

 

"The wind blew at 81km/hr for barely a minute from 2.38pm. This is the highest wind speed recorded during any Nor'wester this season. For another two or three minutes, the wind blew at 72kmph," said an official at Alipore weather office.

The Dum Dum Met office too recorded wind speed of 72kmph for a minute.

The Nor’wester was accompanied by rain that brought relief from the heat and humidity.

Like the storm, the rain did not last long but was quite heavy. 

“It rained about 10 minutes. For the first five minutes, it was very heavy. The wind blew the rainwater into the shed where I had taken shelter along with others,” said Aishik Roy, a student who was on the road near Esplanade when the Nor’wester hit the city. 

At Alipore, 5.2mm of rain was recorded on Wednesday afternoon. 

The storm and rain left broken branches lying on the road across the city. 

The tree outside Eden blocked almost half of Kings Way for 20 minutes before it was chopped into pieces and removed.
Large snapped branches also blocked portions of Red Road and JL Nehru Road.  

Sima Gupta and Rina Gupta, residents of Foreshore Road, were injured when a part of a wall of a closed godown fell on them during the storm. They were being treated in a private hospital for head injuries. 

A weather scientist said a trough of low pressure from east UP to Tripura that passed over Bihar and gangetic Bengal caused the storm and rain. 

A trough is an imaginary line joining low-pressure areas. A low-pressure area draws moisture towards itself and the moisture accumulates to form clouds. The location of the trough passing over gangetic West Bengal helped to draw moisture from the Bay of Bengal. 

“Conditions were ripe in Calcutta for the formation of thunderclouds that cause rain,” said a Met department official. 
Other than moisture, high temperature is also needed for thunderclouds to form. On Wednesday, the maximum temperature, which was recorded before the storm, was 36.8 degrees, two degrees above normal.

The Nor’wester, which originated in Dumka before noon, left a trail in Jharkhand as well, uprooting trees and snapping power lines. Wind speed of over 60kmph was recorded in Jharkhand.

The Alipore Met office has predicted that Thursday’s weather will be similar to Wednesday’s: a hot and humid morning and early afternoon followed by possible rain.

The weather office said the maximum temperature on Thursday is likely to stay two degrees above normal at 37.