Amid celebrations of the grand victory of the IPL final, came saddening news of death and injury because of balmy weather in Kolkata and entire West Bengal. At least 13 farmers were killed and 20 injured by lightning as massive Kal Baisakhi storms raged across West Bengal on Sunday. Lightning lit up the sky and winds of up to 55 kmph threw normal life out of gear in the state.
In Siliguri, an elephant was electrocuted when it ventured into a maize field, forest officials said. Electric poles and wires had fallen due to rain and strong winds in the region.
Heavy rain in the Mishti city Kolkata for the last few days have dipped the mercury drastically. Temperatures in almost entire West Bengal including the capital city rose to about 40⁰C around mid-May but continuous thundershowers led to a drop of about eight to nine degrees. The coolest day in Kolkata was observed on the 1st of June with a maximum of 30.9⁰C.
The weathermen at Skymet have predicted light scattered rainfall across Kolkata and Midnapore on Monday and Tuesday. Thereafter the weather is going to be mainly dry. As the cyclonic circulation moves eastward, the rain belt will affect Northeast India, giving rain over Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Further forecasts suggest weather in Northeast to become favourable for the onset of Southwest Monsoon in the coming days. Some heavy showers are predicted from 6th June onwards.
Photo by Prithwiraj Saha.
