Heavy rains likely in Kolkata for next two days

KOLKATA: Heavy rain activity is likely to continue in the city on Saturday and Sunday, says Met.
Monsoon 2019’s first heavy downpour in Kolkata left the city with that familiar sinking feeling, leaving a trail of deaths, inundating both city-centre and outlying neighbourhoods and stalling traffic all over the city.

A huge mass of cloud, 8-10km in height and 26-30km in width, poured 99mm of rain on Kolkata in the three hours between 2.30pm and 5.30pm on Friday; Dum Dum got 56mm and nearby Salt Lake 26mm from the cyclonic circulation over south Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh.Evening came early as the cloud build-up and the blinding rain blocked out the sun entirely, slowing down traffic substantially and forcing drivers to switch on headlights from around 2.15pm.

Weather officials promised that the trend would not change for the next 48 hours and this would substantially reduce Kolkata’s current monsoon deficit of 44%.
The high-intensity shower that came at the end of a dry and humid morning caught the city by surprise. “A cyclonic circulation formed across south Bengal and Bangladesh and was aided by clouds that formed over East Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly. These clouds converged with the circulation, turning it extremely powerful. The rain was accompanied by frequent lightning strikes,” Regional Meteorological Centre director G K Das said.
Systems forming over south Bengal are more potent than those originating over the Bay of Bengal that affect Odisha and the coastal districts of Bengal. Adding to its potency on Friday was the incursion of moisture from the monsoon trough passing though the region. “This circulation had formed closer to the city and so hit Kolkata hard. This is the season’s first heavy monsoon shower and may be followed by more since the system persists in south Bengal. We expect showers across the region, including Kolkata and the western districts of the state,” Das said.
More rain expected in next 48 hrs: Met
It was around 2.15 p.m. on Friday when the gigantic cloud mass gathered over Kolkata. It struck the city and the neighbouring districts of Howrah, South and North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and East Midnapore with massive intensity, resulting in a blinding spell of rain that rarely lost in intensity for the next two-three hours.
Kolkata, so far, missed heavy showers this season because of weak circulations and low-pressure formations over areas far from the city; at other times, they have moved in directions that have restricted rainfall over the city to drizzles. “But the trend seen on Friday will not change for the next 48 hours. Entire south Bengal should receive heavy rain under the influence of the circulation that has travelled west but continues to remain potent. We expect frequent showers on Saturday,” said Das.
Weather officials say a few more similar spells can wipe out Kolkata’s rain deficit before the end of August, which is anyway Kolkata’s wettest month.