Kolkata, Jan 7 (IANS) Cold conditions in West Bengal will continue in the next few days, the Meteorological office said on Wednesday.

The cold spell will continue for the next few days, with the minimum temperature likely to drop further.

Tuesday was the coldest day in the last 13 years when the city’s temperature dropped to 10.2 degrees Celsius.

The same weather continued on Wednesday, when the minimum temperature in Kolkata was 10.3 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees below normal.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Kolkata’s Alipore said that this weather will continue in south Bengal until Saturday.

“Along with the intense cold, fog will prevail in the morning in most districts, including Kolkata. Cold wave and ‘cold day’ conditions will persist in some districts. However, the temperature may rise slightly between 2 to 3 degrees Celsius over the weekend,” said an official of RMC.

The maximum temperature in Kolkata was 18 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, 6.7 degrees below normal. However, since Wednesday morning, the sky remained clear, and the fog cleared quickly, which will help the day’s maximum temperature to rise.

Meanwhile, the city’s outskirt, Dum Dum, recorded 9.8 degrees Celsius this morning. Sriniketan in Birbhum district was the coldest place in South Bengal, which recorded 6.6 degrees Celsius in the morning.

Among the western districts, East Burdwan and Birbhum are likely to experience cold wave conditions on Thursday.

Birbhum may continue to experience cold wave conditions until Friday morning.

Additionally, six other districts in south Bengal are expected to experience ‘cold day’ conditions (when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or lower and the maximum daytime temperature is 4.5 degrees Celsius or more below normal).

These districts are Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, West Burdwan, Murshidabad and Nadia. There is no possibility of cold wave conditions developing in north Bengal at this time.

All districts of South Bengal, including Kolkata, will remain foggy until Saturday. Visibility may drop to between 999 and 200 metres in some areas.

A dense fog warning has been issued for North 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia.

In North Bengal, dense fog is forecast in eight districts, with visibility potentially dropping to between 50 and 199 metres.

Dense fog warnings will also remain in effect for Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts on Thursday.

–IANS

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