With a low pressure system inching towards land, the monsoon is likely to reach Kolkata on Sunday, according to the Alipore Meteorological office.
This low pressure over northeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh is expected to move slightly northwards and cross over to the land by Sunday afternoon," said a source from Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
The city witnessed sharp spell of pre-monsoon showers for two consecutive days, Friday and Saturday, under the impact of a low pressure area over the north bay of Bengal. Though it lashed parts of Kolkata, it caused flash flooding in few localities.
Under the section of All India Weather Forecast of the Indian Meteorological Department website stated: "Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into most parts of central Arabian Sea, most parts of Konkan, some more parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Marathawada, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Northwest Bay of Bengal."
When the atmospheric pressure is lower in an area than its surroundings, it causes a low pressure zone. It then draws moisture-laden air towards itself, which rises up and forms clouds.
The downpour in the past few days did not qualify as monsoon as it was triggered by a low pressure belt that had formed in the northern part of Bay of Bengal. Although the city received frequent showers over the past few days, the rest of South Bengal was mostly dry.
The rain on Saturday led to waterlogging on stretches of Muktaram Babu Street, Bidhan Sarani, Lalbazar Street, and near the CR Avenue-Muktaram Babu Street crossing and the Poddar Court on Rabindra Sarani. This led to a slow traffic for some time, said a traffic police officer.
While Maniktala received highest rainfall of about 35 mm in half an hour, Patuli and Ballygunge received 5.59 mm and 4.83 mm rainfall respectively.
According to the website run by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and IIT Kharagpur, www.weatherkolkata.in, Chowbhaga (off EM Bypass) received 25 mm of rain, New Market 19.30 mm, Ratan Babu Ghat in Baranagar received 17.53 mm, Behala 17.27 mm and Ultadanga 14.99 mm.
