Kolkata: After dry July, August starts with a bang; Met predicts near-normal month

KOLKATA: Breakaway clouds from the deep depression over north east Bay of Bengal reached Kolkata on Tuesday afternoon with the sky turning dark around 3pm. Though it poured, the rain clouds were soon swept away by strong gusty winds. The city, however, continued to get spells of rain. The Met office expects spells of heavier downpour till Wednesday morning.After a dry July, the Met office has predicted near-normal rainfall for August. The city will be getting some spells of light to moderate rain on Wednesday as well.
The maximum temperature on Tuesday, at 34.2°C, was two notches above the normal mark. The mercury is expected to plunge below the normal mark on Wednesday.

By Tuesday evening, the d-eep depression was about 200km from Kolkata. While Alipore recorded 10mm rain triggered by the system, the Met office said it will move closer to Kolkata by late night to trigger a few spells of heavy rain. "This deep depression is moving towards Bangladesh and is likely to cross Gangetic West Bengal in the night. We can expect overnight rain in Kolkata, and some spells can be heavy," said G K Das, director (weather) at Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
With scanty rain, July, which is supposed to be the rainiest monsoon month, saw a deficit of around 51% in Kolkata. According to the Met office, a cumulative of around 340mm of rain is counted as normal for Kolkata in August. On Tuesday, Alipore recorded 18.4mm of rain till 8pm. Areas like Salt Lake and Lake Town also got a fair amount of rain during the day.
"The monthly rain prediction for August in Kolkata will be near normal, of which we expect at least about 90% to 95%. Therefore, the deficit will not be as significant as that of July," Das said.
According to an RMC bulletin, a deep depression over northeast Bay of Bengal off Bangladesh coast was moving at 25kmph. The system is moving northwestwards. Once it crosses the Bangladesh coast, it is likely to move west-northwestwards across Gangetic West Bengal.
While systems like a low-pressure area and depression bring heavy rain during monsoon, such significant systems have been missing all these weeks.
This is the first such depression the city is encountering this monsoon. The Met office expects a collective rain of around 4cm by Wednesday morning.