No respite: Kolkata to remain hot and humid today

KOLKATA: Voters in Kolkata may have a trying time weathering the heat on Sunday. With the scorching northwesterly winds blowing in and no rain-triggering system in the region, the mercury is set to soar beyond 37°C on polling afternoon. Worse, the temperature will start climbing as early as 11am and may not slide below 35°C till 4pm.
The city recorded a maximum temperature of 36.6°C on Saturday.
“A heat-wave alert has been sounded across eight south Bengal districts. This includes the western districts of Bengal, which usually remain very hot at this time of the year. Scorching winds are blowing in from that region, which has had an impact on Kolkata this week. It has pushed the mercury up and Sunday is set to be very hot and uncomfortable,” said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director GK Das. While May temperatures are usually high, this summer the mercury has been sliding up earlier in the day. On Sunday, the mercury may start hovering around the 34°C-35°C mark by 11am, said the RMC.
“It could touch 37°C at 2pm and may not drop below 34°C even at 4 pm. Since the length of the high temperature period will be long, expect the day to be very uncomfortable,” said Das.
Private weather forecasting service AccuWeather recorded a maximum temperature of 37°C on Saturday with real feel temperature touching 45°C.
It predicted the maximum temperature to reach 38°C degrees on Sunday. But the RMC pointed out that moisture was flowing into Kolkata and this may eventually help to curb the mercury. But there would be no respite till at least Monday.
Since a squall struck Kolkata last Monday night, the city has remained dry. The mercury dropped marginally in the aftermath of the squall but started rising again from Wednesday.