Half way in, April the cruellest in two decades

Kolkata: The city is experiencing the longest heat wave in more than 10 years and is possibly heading for the most protracted scorching spell in two decades. It also makes this April the warmest in at least 20 years. With the scorching spell continuing for the sixth consecutive day, the Met office predicted at least another 48 hours of intense heat with no rain relief in sight.

The weather was unusually harsh and the city has rarely experienced such peak-summer conditions so early, said the Regional Meteorological Centre, Alipore. With the mercury touching 40.3 degrees on Friday, Kolkata is now bracing for a scorching weekend ahead. The city hasn't been through a nearly week-long heat wave in recent memory, said G C Debnath, deputy director-general of the Regional Meteorological Centre.

"Heat waves have rarely lasted this long in Kolkata, especially so early in April. We are still going through the records to check exactly when we had such a long spell in Kolkata. And we haven't even come to the end of it yet. It will continue for at least two more days, possibly more since there is no sign of any change happening," said Debnath.

Heat waves have been few and far in between in this region even though the mercury occasionally crossed the 40degree mark, said Devendra Pradhan, additional deputy director-general (instruments) of IMD. "They generally don't last more than 2-3 days at a stretch in eastern India for thundershowers invariably bring the temperature down. This year has been different, though, with no moisture-incursion happening and no low-pressure trough or cyclonic circulation in sight yet. It is a matter of concern that such a lengthy scorching spell is not being broken. And we still have nearly two more months of summer to go," said Pradhan.

In April 2009 and 2014, the city had experienced heat-wave conditions with the mercury crossing 40 C. But those spells were shorter. Heat waves are more frequent in May and early June. "The reason being that thundershowers invariably bring a relief. On an average, Kolkata receives a dozen thundershowers between March and May. Worryingly, the number has become inconsistent over the past decade. It has gone down to two in some years and rarely crossed six," said Pradhan.

North Bengal, on the other hand, may be in for some relief. Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri were hit by a squall with wind speed of over 50km on Friday. Rain was predicted in the Terai-Dooars region as well.

Weather forecasting service Skymet has predicted brief relief for Kolkata in the second half of April.