Children daubed with Holi colours at a school in Siliguri on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, March 18: Holi celebrations will be washed out tomorrow if the weathermen’s predictions are proved right.

The prediction of bad weather has dampened the spirits of those who planned to splash their friends with colours.

The Regional Met Office in Jalpaiguri today forecast that squall followed by heavy showers would hit Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar districts in the next 24-hours, dampening the spirit of people who wanted to make merry under clear blue skies on Holi.

“We are in the middle of March and it is natural for the region to experience thunderstorms and light to moderate rain. Currently, there is an upper air trough over north Bengal and Sikkim and it will cause an incursion of moisture from the southern part of the state and is likely to bring rain to the region,” said Indranil Sengupta, the assistant meteorological officer at the Regional Met Office.

A cyclonic circulation has further increased the chances of rain.

“There was a cyclonic circulation over eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It moved east towards Bihar and will cause squall and heavy showers in Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Darjeeling districts in the next 24-hours,” said the Met officer.

“The wind speed will range between 50 and 60km per hour,” he added.

The forecast of bad weather has cast shadow on all plans of revellers.

The Marwari Yuva Mancha, like every year, is organising a cultural programme at Hindi High School on SF Road tomorrow.

“Holi and Diwali are the two occasions celebrated by our community and we usually enjoy the festivities to the hilt. We have lined up a cultural programme with songs and dance, after which we will play with colours on the school ground. Hundreds of people attend our programme every year. But if the weather plays a spoiler, people would prefer to stay indoors rather than come to the venue to enjoy the festival,” said Sushil Rampuria, the secretary of the Marwari Yuva Mancha.

The cloudy weather is expected to bring down the temperature during the day and increase it at night.

“Although the maximum temperature hovered two degrees above the normal in the past few days, it will be lower for the next few days because of the cloudy condition. The night temperature will go up as the clouds will not let the heat escape,” said Sengupta.

The minimum temperature in Siliguri today was 19.5 degrees Celsius — a deviation of two degrees from the normal minimum of 17 degrees Celsius.

The day’s maximum temperature was 24.6 degrees Celsius, 5.4 degrees Celsius below the normal maximum of 30 degrees Celsius.

Youngsters are most unhappy with the prediction of a gloomy weather. “We usually have dry weather during Holi and it is so much fun to play with our friends in the street. If it rains, we all will be confined to our homes,” said Alok Singh, a 15-year-old boy of Pradhan Nagar.