60kmph thunderstorm hits S Kol, central and northern parts receive drizzles

Kolkata: The city was lashed by a squall with a wind speed of 60 km/hour, gusting up to 64 km/hour on Sunday evening, that resulted in a sharp temperature drop. It was preceded by a period of total darkness, with a thick cloud cover hanging low over Kolkata from around 3 pm. Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 34.6°C and a maximum relative humidity of 96%. The rain and the thunderstorm were accompanied by frequent lightning strikes. Kolkata recorded 19.3 mm of rain on Sunday. While some parts of south Kolkata received a heavy spell, central and north Kolkata received drizzles."The rain was not very heavy, though the cloud cover was thick. It led to a temperature drop of around 6°C-7°C. But the relief will not last long. While light to moderate rain and thunderstorms will continue in and around Kolkata, humidity will remain high due to a strong moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal. It will keep conditions sweaty," said Regional Meteorological Centre weather scientist Sourish Bandopadhyay.Kolkata's minimum relative humidity was 70% on Sunday. Along with Kolkata, thunderstorms and lightning struck some parts of Howrah, Hooghly, South and North 24 Parganas and Nadia."These are pre-monsoon thunderstorms that will continue but will be sporadic across south Bengal districts and get progressively weaker. But the cloud cover may persist, keeping the scorching heat at bay till the middle of next week. Since moisture incursion is high, humidity will rise, which will make it uncomfortable, though," added Bandopadhyay.Meanwhile, southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of westcentral and entire northeast Bay of Bengal, and some more parts of northwest Bay of Bengal, entire Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, some parts of Tripura, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on June 7, said a bulletin issued by RMC.It added that conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of central Arabian Sea, Maharashtra, Karnataka, some parts of Telangana, some more parts of Andhra Pradesh, remaining parts of Tamil Nadu and southwest Bay of Bengal and some more parts of westcentral and northwest Bay of Bengal, some parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha, remaining parts of northeastern states and some parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during next 3-4 days.