Showers to lose intensity in Kolkata in next 48 hours: Met

KOLKATA: A steady drizzle interspersed by a couple of heavy spells left Kolkata drenched on Thursday morning even as the Met office predicted more showers on Friday. But the rain could be sporadic and less intense over the next 48 hours. Kolkata received 15.5mm rain on Thursday.
A cyclonic circulation over Gangetic Bengal and the monsoon trough, which now passes over Digha, combined to trigger the rain on Thursday.It started with a drizzle shortly after 8am and continued till 1pm in the afternoon. Parts of south, central and east Kolkata received a couple of heavy spells even as the sky remained overcast. “The circulation over Gangetic Bengal has moved away towards Jharkhand. So, the showers will now lose intensity and will be less frequent. But light rain will continue till the weekend. As of now, there is no possibility of heavy showers since there is no rain-triggering system in the region,” said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director G K Das.
Even though the circulation has moved towards central India, the monsoon trough persists in south Bengal. It will continue to have an impact and drizzles are likely in south Bengal, said weathermen. Kolkata has received 10% excess rain in September so far, though south Bengal still has a deficit of 27%. Kolkata’s seasonal deficit, that had mounted to 44% in August, has climbed down to just 18%. The city had its first and only heavy spell so far this monsoon on August 16 when 198 mm rain was recorded. It pushed the August rain count up to an excess of 61%.
The monsoon had a slow start this year with deficient rain in June and July. While Kolkata received 69% less than normal rain in June, the July count had a 56% shortfall. Onset of monsoon, too, was delayed with cyclone Vayu hitting the Gujarat coast and derailing the monsoon arms. “It’s been an erratic monsoon so far with moderate rainfall. Rather than heavy spells, south Bengal has had steady drizzles this year. They have kept the seasonal count within a striking range of the normal count but haven’t quite wiped out the deficit. Another heavy spell may pull the count up to the normal mark, though,” said a weather scientist.
While August is the second wettest of the monsoon months with a normal rain count of 344.5 mm, Kolkata received a phenomenal 430.9mm till August 18 which is more than double the normal count (till August 18). But almost half of this was received in just two days which has left weather scientists worried about ‘unusually intense’ spells that have been frequent in recent years.