Rain makes a break from dry May

TT, May 28: A deep depression that acted like one today ended the spell of rain deception Calcutta had faced for a fortnight and created conditions for more showers over the next two days.

The depression behind the heavy rain that came in three spells starting late afternoon was positioned 820km from the city this evening and could intensify into a severe cyclonic storm, the weather office said.

A second cyclonic circulation brewing over Bihar has strengthened the rain forecast.

Once the deep depression turns into a severe cyclonic storm, it is tipped to make landfall in Chittagong district of Bangladesh by Tuesday afternoon. This should be enough for Calcutta to receive rain from Monday itself, although the city possibly won't be lashed by high-speed cyclonic winds.

The quantum of rain today varied by much from location to location. Dhapa received 25mm but the weather office in Alipore recorded just 17.3mm in 24 hours till 8.30pm. The skies did not open up across the city all at once either.

When the first spell of rain got heavier at Esplanade around 5.20pm, Salt Lake was dry as Jimmy Kimmel's humour. Around the same time, a drizzle had started in Mukundapur, on the city's southern fringe. The second shower, starting around 7pm, did not bring a drop to Tollygunge.

But by the end of the third spell, every part of the city had thankfully received some amount of rain to wash away the sweat from the Celsius. The maximum temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius recorded on Sunday afternoon would dip to about 33 degrees by Tuesday, according to the forecast.

G.K. Das, the director of the India Meteorological Department in Calcutta, said the weather systems at play would be at their strongest on Tuesday. Regions closest to the severe cyclonic storm would experience wind speeds in the range of 90 to 110kmph. Calcutta is likely to be just outside the "maximum" zone, but would still experience gusts of wind, weather scientists said.

Rain brings some relief to the city before these two take home a pedestal fan to beat the heat.
(Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

The three spells of rain from this afternoon were the first in Calcutta since May 13, when a thunderstorm had struck in the run-up to the IPL match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens. The wind speed that day had reached 60kmph and the amount of rain was 10.3mm.

Since May 13, conditions had been extremely hot and humid, with the maximum temperature hitting 38.6 degrees Celsius and relative humidity remaining in the 60 per cent range.

This has, of course, been a season of rain misses for Calcutta. On several occasions, rain-bearing clouds have approached the city, only to fizzle out or change direction.

Arindam Pal, who was visiting Southern Avenue this afternoon, had found no reason to carry an umbrella when he left his Dum Dum home. "There was not a cloud in the sky in the morning. I would have liked more rain, but I am glad that at least there was some," he said.

Weather scientist Das said the showers could be termed "pre-monsoon rain" since the flow of south-westerly winds in the city was strong at the moment.

Monsoon arrives in Calcutta after the first week of June.