Clouds drive away chill : cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh has become less marked and moved towards the Bay

 Moisture in atmoshpere stalled northwesterly winds and pushed minimum temperature up to 21.3 degrees Celsius

DEBRAJ MITRA |  TT  |  02.02.24 : The sky was cloudy and gloomy for much of Thursday but there was hardly any rain.

The northern fringes of Kolkata, like Barasat and Dum Dum, however, got more than a drizzle. Some parts of Kolkata got traces of rainfall late on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday.

The moisture in the atmoshpere stalled the northwesterly winds and pushed the minimum temperature up to 21.3 degrees Celsius, six notches above normal.

The Met office recorded a maximum temperature of 26.6 degrees in Kolkata on Wednesday. On Thursday, it was 24.1 degrees.

The minimum temperature would have been marginally lower had Kolkata received some rainfall, said a Met official.

In Dum Dum, the minimum was 18.4 degrees on Thursday.

“Most of the clouds passed from the north and south of Kolkata, leaving the city in between drier than the neighbouring pockets,” he said.

The rain was missing but the clouds were very much there. A combination of clouds and smog lowered visibility in the Maidan and EM Bypass in the afternoon.

The two systems behind the overcast conditions have weakened, the Met office said.

The cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh has become less marked and moved towards the Bay. The trough that had taken shape under the influence of the circulation has also become less-marked and moved to Odisha.

“Rain is not ruled out in Kolkata on Friday but the chances have slimmed,” the Met official said. “But the northwesterly winds are not likely to return to the city over the next couple of days at least,” he added.