West Bengal weather: Orange alert for four south Bengal districts

Kolkata and four south Bengal districts are likely to receive moderate to heavy rain and thunderstorms over the next two days, the Met office said. An orange alert has been issued for Howrah, Hooghly and the two 24 Parganas districts

Kolkata: Parts of West Bengal, including Kolkata, are likely to receive moderate to heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms over the next two days, the Met office said on Wednesday.

Rain is expected in four south Bengal districts, namely Howrah, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, besides the state capital.

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Kolkata remained cloudy from Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, a thunderstorm swept across the city, accompanied by heavy rain. The possibility of more thunderstorms is likely to increase after evening, the weather office said.

The Meteorological Department initially issued a yellow alert for the districts. It later upgraded the warning to orange for all four districts in south Bengal.

Along with moderate to heavy rain, gusty winds of 30 to 40 kmph are likely in some places. The thunderstorms may continue till the evening.

According to a Met department official, the monsoon has not completely withdrawn from West Bengal. There is also sufficient moisture in the air. Under these conditions, scattered rain is occurring in some areas because of locally formed clouds.

On Tuesday, light to moderate rain was recorded in parts of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas. The rain started again on Wednesday afternoon.

“Light to moderate rain is likely in all districts of south Bengal on Thursday. Thunderstorms and gusty winds of 30 to 40 km per hour are likely to occur along with the rain. Thunderstorms are also expected in the districts of North Bengal till Friday,” said the Met department official.

There is a possibility of scattered rain on Friday, but the weather will change significantly. The state is expected to witness dry weather from Saturday.

The possibility of rain will also be relatively low from Sunday. There is no significant change in temperature despite the rain. The minimum temperature is expected to drop once dry weather conditions set in.