Sunday was warm and sunny and the city hotspots were packed with revellers.

Calcutta loves its winter but the past couple of weekends were unusually cold. Spending time outdoors was a challenge — even during the afternoon — that many were not up to.

As a result, parks and museums saw a drop in footfall. The mercury went up four notches on Sunday and people made the most of it.

At the Victoria Memorial, queues began forming by noon.

Around noon, more than 100 people were waiting outside the ticket counters. CISF personnel were seen managing the crowd and guiding visitors to queue up at the North Gate, a scene missing on the first Sunday of the year when the chill kept many indoors.

Shikha Jaiswal, 30, who visited the Victoria Memorial with her family for the first time, said the weather had earlier restricted their plans.

“We have been in Calcutta for a week, but the cold weather didn’t allow us to step out much. I have a two-year-old son, so the weather becomes very important before we plan anything,” said Jaiswal, a resident of Uttar Pradesh.

“Before leaving Calcutta, we finally got pleasant weather. After finishing our visit at Victoria, we plan to head to the zoo,” she said, standing near the North Gate.

Hawkers outside the premises did brisk business on
Sunday.

“Today I sold around 40 pairs of earrings. For the past two Sundays, there was hardly any business because of the cold. The sunny weather has brought the usual crowd back,” said a hawker selling accessories outside the gate.

At 12.45pm the gates of the Alipore zoo looked like a sea of heads from the skywalk.

Long queues were spotted at ticket counters, while many visitors were seen booking tickets online from the Yatri Sathi kiosks outside the gates.

Sandip Das, 42, who visited the zoo with a group of 10 people from Entally, said it was the best day of the winter so far.

“After days of intense cold, today feels perfect. The bright sunshine is the reason I could bring my 65-year-old mother along,” said Das, a government employee.

He added that Sunday also marked the return of a seasonal ritual.

“This is the weather to sit in the sun, eat an orange and soak in some vitamin D,” he said.

The Bengal tiger, elephant and snake enclosures were favourites among visitors.

Madhuparna Banerjee, 30, a resident of Salt Lake, brought her 75-year-old grandmother, who is recovering from hip surgery, to the zoo.

“This visit is especially for her. She underwent surgery two months ago, and the sunshine is good for her recovery,” said Banerjee, pushing her grandmother’s wheelchair through the zoo.

Many of the revellers in Maidan, zoo and Victoria were Gangasagar pilgrims.

Eco Park in New Town also saw a steady crowd by afternoon. Around 2pm, families occupied the lawns for lunch, while others played badminton or enjoyed ice cream under the sun.

Ritu Sarkar, 45, who came with her school friends for a reunion at Eco Park, said the weather made all the difference.

“We didn’t need to wear multiple layers today. That’s why we chose to meet on Sunday. It’s our school reunion after four years, and the weather is perfect to walk around comfortably,” she said.

The minimum temperature went up to around 15 degrees on Sunday, up from 11.5 degrees on Saturday. It was the warmest so far this January. The Met office had predicted a marginal rise in the Celsius but not this much.

“A deep depression hit land in Sri Lanka on Saturday. It was a large system that led to the formation of clouds in the lower levels of the atmosphere in Bengal. The clouds persisted longer than expected. That is why the temperature went up more than expected,” said a Metro official.

At 23.9 degrees, the maximum temperature was also normal after several days.

But the clouds will be gone soon and the mercury is likely to drop a couple of degrees on Monday itself, said the Met official.