Brief evening rain brings little relief

Kolkata: The unrelenting heat and humidity kept Kolkata sweltering on Wednesday, with a brief evening thundershower bringing little relief from the oppressive conditions. Though the city's maximum temperature was 36.2 degrees Celsius — only 0.4 notches above normal — the high humidity pushed the real-feel temperature close to 50 degrees.Dark clouds gathered over the city in the late afternoon and thunderclaps were accompanied by gusty winds. But the rain lasted barely 20 minutes. The 11.6 mm shower ended the dry spell without significantly easing the heat and humidity."There is a cyclonic circulation in the lower level along with heating and continuous moisture flow, making conditions favourable for thundershowers across many parts of the state. Kolkata has a 50% chance of similar showers on Thursday too, but these will not be widespread enough to influence the weather substantially," said Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata head H R Biswas.Meteorologists said that at this time of the year, only widespread and prolonged thundershowers or nor'westers can effectively bring down both temperature and humidity. While Kolkata received only a brief spell, districts including Bankura, West Midnapore and Birbhum witnessed heavy thunderstorm on Wednesday.