Nor'wester hope after weeklong scorcher

KOLKATA: After the heat wave for the past few days, a light drizzle in the city on Tuesday brought some relief for the Kolkatans. But even before most could realize the mild drizzle, it disappeared, leaving the city rain-starved.
The Tuesday evening drizzle, however, could be a prelude to an impending spell of Nor'wester this weekend. Met office sees rain in the radar in the next few days.
The mercury had shot up to 39.9° C on Sunday, making it the hottest March day in eight years. A loo-like wind had aggravated the situation leaving Kolkata reeling under heatwave. This northerly wind had blown in from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand. By Monday, the wind had changed direction as it started blowing in from southerly direction. It had started bringing in moisture from the Bay of Bengal leading to cloud formation. But the amount of moisture was too scarce to form thunder clouds. Hence it could trigger a drizzle and not thundershower.
"Southerly wind brings in moisture from the Bay of Bengal. Once there is sufficient moisture in the system and the mercury level rises up to a certain measure, it results in Nor'wester. But this time, when the southerly wind had just started bringing in moisture, the wind direction changed again. Since Tuesday morning, it has been blowing in from the northerly direction. Hence it spoilt the chance of a thundershower," said Devendra Pradhan, deputy director general meteorology at IMD Kolkata.
Since there is still trace of moisture in the air, the sky could remain partly cloudy on Wednesday. But, the Met office does not expect any rain on Wednesday, at best there could be a drizzle. However weather office is keeping a close watch of the wind direction. There is a possibility of the southerly wind blowing in again. In that case the process of moisture incursion will start bringing in hope for rain. "There is possibility of rain or thundershower on Friday, if all the parameters and readings go well," said a meteorologist at Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 36.6° C on Tuesday which was two degree above the normal. It is expected to rise slightly in the next two days to hover around the 38° C mark. The night temperature will be around 26° C.