South Bengal to receive light to moderate rain as after-effect of Cyclone Montha

Kolkata, Oct 29 (IANS) As Cyclone Montha loses strength, districts in south Bengal and Kolkata will receive light to moderate rain throughout Wednesday, the Met Office said.

The rain will occur in West Bengal due to the indirect impact of the cyclone, which made landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast on Tuesday night.

An official of the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata's Alipore said: "Due to the after-effects of the cyclone, light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms is predicted in several districts. The rain will reduce from Thursday onwards. Although the cyclone made no direct impact in the state, the outer bands of the system passed over the West Bengal coast. As a result, the system triggered rain in south Bengal yesterday. The same pattern will be followed today as well. Yesterday, Kolkata experienced light rain accompanied by gusty winds."

Rain is likely in Kolkata as well as in the districts of East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Jhargram, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly, the official said.

On Thursday and Friday, there may be heavy rain at one or two places, mainly in the western districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, East Burdwan and West Burdwan. The intensity of rain in south Bengal will reduce from Saturday onwards, and the sky will clear from Sunday.

In north Bengal, light rain is likely in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Malda and North Dinajpur districts later in the day. The rain will increase in this region from Thursday.

There is a possibility of heavy to very heavy rain in all the northern districts on Friday.

Although the rain will gradually decrease during the weekend, there is a possibility of rain with thunderstorms in some areas of north Bengal.

On Tuesday, the maximum temperature in Kolkata was 32.9 degrees Celsius, which is 2 degrees higher than normal. The minimum temperature was 26 degrees Celsius, which is 3.4 degrees higher than normal.

--IANS

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