Monsoon likely to arrive in S Bengal, Kol by tomorrow

Kolkata: The wait for monsoon could be over soon as the Met office expects its onset in south Bengal, including Kolkata, by Friday. The Met office is watching out for cloud convection to develop over the Bay, that would bring in the monsoon rain by Friday.
If this weather system develops there is chance of rains in the coastal area by Thursday itself.
On Wednesday, Kolkatans woke up to a cloudy sky that raised hopes for the arrival of monsoon. But the weather scientists said clouds were medium in volume and remained stagnant. For monsoon rain, the clouds have to be convective in nature and low in height. “Conditions are favourable for the onset of monsoon in south Bengal, including in Kolkata, by Friday. The cloud convection activities have already started in Bangladesh. We expect similar activities over the Bay. There are chances of some coastal parts getting rain from Thursday morning itself,” said G K Das, director at Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
“Last year, the monsoon hit Kolkata on June 11. But even though it has not reached south Bengal yet, we cannot call it a delayed monsoon onset if it happens within seven days from its normal date of arrival. Due to the absence of any big system we can expect the monsoon to kick off weakly. But it is likely to pick up pace after June 20,” said Das.
The past few days has witnessed spells of nor’wester accompanied by squall across the city in the evenings or at night. Thundershower, that lasted almost an hour on Wednesday night, had dragged the mercury down. The minimum temperature on Wednesday at 23.9°C was three notches below the normal, while the maximum temperature at 32.7°C was one degree below normal.
The Met office has issued warnings for heavy to very heavy rain for areas under Coochbehar and Alipurduar and heavy rain in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri during the next four days.