Met Dept predicts heavy rain, thunderstorms in south Bengal districts for next 24 hours
Kolkata, Aug 6
Following Wednesday's thunderstorm accompanied by lightning, the Met office on Thursday predicted more rain over south Bengal districts due to favourable weather conditions.
According to the forecast, a cyclonic circulation is active in northeast Bihar and the adjacent north Bengal-Sikkim area. In addition, a large amount of moisture has entered from the Bay of Bengal, which has created favourable conditions for rain.
Due to this, there is a possibility of heavy to very heavy rain in some districts of south Bengal in the next 24 hours. In addition, scattered heavy rains with thunderstorms are likely to occur in various districts of the state on Friday.
In this regard, Regional Meteorological Centre's (RMC) Eastern Region Director, Habibur Rahman Biswas, said that the monsoon axis has shifted from north to south Bengal. Due to which rain will increase in south Bengal. There is a possibility of scattered heavy rains in Kolkata today and tomorrow.
"There will be a very heavy rain in south Bengal tomorrow. There will be light to moderate rain in some districts. On the other hand, very heavy rain is predicted in north Bengal today," said Biswas.
Due to thunderstorms, four people were killed in lightning strikes yesterday in West Midnapore district. The Met office has asked people especially farmers to stay out of farming land in case of approaching thunderstorms.
An orange warning of very heavy rain has been issued in two districts today. There is a possibility of scattered rain of up to 200 millimetres in East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Bankura districts. There is a yellow warning of heavy rain in seven districts including Kolkata.
Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, East Burdwan, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts. Yellow alert for light to moderate rain with thundershowers is in place in almost all districts.
Yellow alert for scattered heavy rain will remain in effect in south Bengal on Friday and Saturday. Although the rain will decrease from Sunday, light to moderate scattered rain will continue.
There is a possibility of scattered moderate rain in Kolkata today as well. Heavy rain may also occur at one or two places. There is a heavy rain alert in the next 24 hours. There will be scattered light to moderate rain on Friday as well. The amount of rain will decrease from Saturday.
On Wednesday, the maximum temperature in Kolkata and its surrounding areas was 30.06 degrees Celsius which is 01.04 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was 26.07 degrees Celsius which is 00.02 degrees above normal.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Those four deaths in West Midnapore due to lightning are really sad. Farmers need to be more careful. The Met department's warning is clear - please don't go to the fields during thunderstorms. Better to lose a day's work than lose your life.
The Met department has improved a lot with their predictions. Earlier we would get vague forecasts, but now they are giving district-wise alerts with specific rainfall amounts. Good to see the scientific approach. Hope the administration also takes preventive measures accordingly.
Living in Kolkata during monsoon is like a love-hate relationship. Love the cool weather, hate the traffic jams and waterlogging. Anyway, just stocked up on some chai and pakoras. Let it rain! ☔🌧️
I'm visiting Kolkata from the US and this is my first monsoon experience. The prediction is saying 200mm in some districts - that's more than what we get in months in California! Quite an adventure. Any tips for navigating the city during heavy rain?
The warnings are good, but I wish the civic authorities would also clear the blocked drains before the rain hits. Every year we see the same problem. The weather department does its job, but the rest need to do theirs too.
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