Kolkata, 11 January (H.S.) :

Even as winter has tightened its grip across West Bengal with consistently falling temperatures, Sunday brought an unexpected twist. Kolkata recorded a sharp rise of nearly four degrees Celsius in minimum temperature in a single day, pushing the mercury above normal levels. The rise was not limited to the city alone, as several districts in south Bengal also witnessed a similar upward trend.

According to the Alipore Meteorological Department, Kolkata’s minimum temperature on Sunday morning stood at 15 degrees Celsius, which is 1.2 degrees above normal. On Saturday, the city’s maximum temperature failed to cross 22 degrees Celsius, remaining 2.7 degrees below normal. Just a few days ago, on Tuesday, Kolkata had experienced intense cold conditions with the temperature dipping into single digits. As recently as Saturday, the minimum temperature had fallen to 11.5 degrees Celsius before climbing sharply overnight.

Despite this sudden rise, the weather office has clarified that there is no immediate relief from winter conditions. Cold weather is expected to persist across the state.

A fog alert has been issued for several parts of West Bengal. The Alipore Met Office has warned that all districts in south Bengal are likely to experience light to moderate fog during morning hours, which may reduce visibility to between 999 metres and 200 metres. In north Bengal, dense fog conditions are expected in some districts. Visibility in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Uttar Dinajpur could drop to as low as 50 metres, with foggy conditions possibly continuing till late morning.

In the hills, Darjeeling recorded a minimum temperature of 3.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, similar to Saturday. In Birbhum’s Sriniketan, where the mercury had dipped to around 6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, the minimum temperature rose slightly to 7.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday. Several parts of south Bengal also saw minimum temperatures crossing the 10-degree mark.

The Meteorological Department has forecast that there will be no major change in night temperatures across south Bengal over the next seven days. Minimum temperatures in Gangetic West Bengal are expected to remain two to three degrees below normal. For the next three days, maximum temperatures in south Bengal districts may also stay around two degrees below normal. Similar conditions are likely to prevail in north Bengal, where both day and night temperatures are expected to remain below normal over the coming week.

Overall, while a brief temperature rise has been recorded, winter conditions are set to continue across the state in the days ahead.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh