Heavy rain alert for Kolkata till Friday night, gusty wind warning for coast

A low-pressure zone over the Bay of Bengal is set to trigger showers in the city: Met office

Clouds over the Maidan on Thursday afternoon.: Pradip Sanyal

TT SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |  19.08.22 : Clouds over the Maidan on Thursday afternoon. 

A low-pressure zone took shape over the Bay of Bengal on Thursday and it is likely to trigger heavy rain in Kolkata over the next 24 hours.

While it is the third such system over the Bay in August, it is also the closest to the West Bengal coast this monsoon, said Met officials. “Kolkata is likely to get heavy rain under the impact of the system. The rain is likely between Thursday night and Friday night,” a Met official said on Thursday evening.

Thursday was extremely humid. Around 1pm, the temperature was 34 degrees Celsius.

However, the RealFeel was around 46 degrees because of the high moisture content. Occasional streaks of lightning lit up the evening sky but there was no rain till around 8pm.

The conditions in Kolkata started changing in the late evening. It started raining in some pockets a little after 8pm.

“The system is tipped to intensify into a depression by Friday. Kolkata and coastal parts of south Bengal are likely to get heavy rain between Thursday night and Friday night. The weather in Kolkata will improve from Saturday as the system moves towards Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh,” said G.K. Das, director, IMD, Kolkata.

While the majority of the systems this monsoon formed close to the south Odisha-north Andhra coast, this one has taken shape further north, he said.

A Met bulletin on Thursday afternoon said: “A low-pressure area has formed over northeast and adjoining areas of east-central Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh-Myanmar coasts.... It is very likely to move northwestwards and become a well-marked low-pressure area.... it is likely to concentrate into a depression by tomorrow morning, over North Bay of Bengal and adjoining West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts. Thereafter, it is likely to move west northwestwards across Gangetic West Bengal, north Odisha, Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh.”

Around 6pm on Thursday, the clouds — formed because of the system — were off the Sunderbans coast, over 150km from Kolkata, said a Met official. Apart from the coastal districts, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Jharg ram are also likely to get heavy rain on Friday, according to the Met bulletin.

The bulletin also issued a wind warning for the coastal districts of South 24-Parganas and Purba Medinipur.

“Gusty winds blowing at a speed of 40- 50kmph likely over Purba Medinipur and South 24-Parganas on Friday and Saturday,” it said.