Temperature slides after late-night storm in Kolkata

KOLKATA: A late-night squall with wind speed reaching 54 kmph and a spell of rain, which struck Kolkata around 10.45 p.m. on Wednesday, provided welcome relief to citizens left sweltering by the humidity-laced heat of the last consecutive days.
Earlier on Wednesday, weather officials said they expected the low-pressure trough, which stretched between Rajasthan and Gangetic Bengal, to bring some respite to the city only on Thursday.
It had started generating clouds along Jharkhand that might sail towards the city by Thursday evening and trigger a thunderstorm, they added.
With cyclone Vayu — set to strike the Gujarat coast on Thursday afternoon — having sucked away winds from the Bay branch of the monsoon currents, the onset of rains has been delayed in Bengal.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC). Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 36.5°C on Wednesday. “Cloud cells have started forming in Jharkhand. We expect moisture to flow into the trough on Thursday and generate clouds for a thunderstorm. There is a strong possibility of a norwester and it could lower the temperature,” RMC director G K Das told TOI before Wednesday's thunderstorm hit Kolkata.
The city received a couple of spells of light shower last week. But with the monsoon currents stalled, warm northwesterly winds have been blowing into the city and Gangetic Bengal for several days pushing the mercury up.