City’s min temp in 20s, max may touch 30s

Kolkata: The mercury shot up sharply on Thursday, bringing a summer feel. At 21 degrees Celsius, the minimum temperature was a whopping 6.3 notches above the normal mark in Kolkata. The Met officials said that while it is unusual for the mercury to surge this high, the minimum temperature went up around this mark in Jan at least in two years in the past two decades.
An anti-cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal has been injecting moisture in high content into the land for the past two days. This weather condition is not only pushing up the mercury but is also causing fog in the early mornings in Kolkata and many other districts of south Bengal. The Met predicted similar weather conditions in the next few days.
"The minimum shooting up to 21 degrees in Jan in Kolkata does not happen frequently. We saw it rising around this mark at least on two occasions in Jan since 2009," said weather scientist Sourish Bandyopadhyay of the Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
Due to the anti-cyclonic circulation, the city is currently getting the warm and moist southerly wind system. The city and other parts of south Bengal need the cold-bearing northerly wind system to bring in the chill.
Back-to-back western disturbances have been playing spoilsport with the winter chill this time. While the city normally sees the mercury dip significantly around Makar Sankranti, Kolkata recorded a high of 16.6 degrees Celsius on Jan 14.
After dipping to the month's lowest of 12.3 degrees on Jan 11, the minimum remained mostly above the normal mark, or even if it was below normal, it was too insignificant to keep the chill feeling intact.
"We go for a picnic on Jan 26 almost every year. It was pretty hot this time. On Thursday, it was almost like summer. It is time to keep back woollens now as winter seems to be at its fag end," said Arunima Sinha, an IT sector employee.
Along with the minimum temperature, the maximum at 27.5 was also 1.5 notches higher than normal, and it is likely to touch 29 to 30 degrees in the next few days. The Met office has hinted at no climb down by the mercury in the next few days. Even as a decline is expected after Feb 4, the fall is unlikely to bring in the cold again.
"We can expect a slight dip in the mercury by mid-next week. But it is less likely to go down below 15 as we are already in the first week of Feb," said Bandyopadhyay.
Along with warmer days, the Met office has also issued a warning for shallow to moderate fog in Kolkata in the early morning in the next three days.