High humidity and sporadic showers marked Independence Day in Calcutta.

A generally cloudy sky and light rain have been forecast for the next few days.

The sun will also make its presence felt, and the discomfort index will soar when it is not raining.

Around 1pm on Friday, the temperature was around 30 degrees but the humidity quotient of 81 per cent made it feel like 38 degrees.

The city got more than one spell of rain on Friday.

The sky was partly sunny in the morning. Dark clouds appeared in the afternoon.

The synoptic situation turned monsoon currents weak over the north Bay of Bengal, which is closer to the south Bengal coastline.

“The low-pressure area over south Odisha-North Andhra Pradesh coasts and adjoining areas of north-west and west-central Bay of Bengal lay over south Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coast on Friday morning. The monsoon trough at mean sea level now passes through Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and thence the centre of the low-pressure area,” said a Met report.

The trough had been passing through south Bengal for a long time this monsoon. It shifted to the foothills of the Himalayas, triggering incessant rain in north Bengal and Sikkim before descending south of Bengal.