As mercury soars, Met officials warn of heatwave

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum and minimum temperature on Saturday was 41 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius in Kolkata.

HR Biswas, Director of IMD Bhubaneswar said, “We have issued a heatwave warning as the temperatures in many places are higher than 40°C. The dry westerly and northwesterly winds along with the solar insulation are one of the key reasons for the hot weather. The temperature is set to dip in the coming days.”

Addressing a press conference earlier this week, Regional Meteorological Centre (Kolkata) deputy director general Sanjib Bandyopadhyay had said, “The westerly and northwesterly dry wind are prevailing in and around the state, so the temperature is estimated to be 1°C or 3°C higher than the average temperature.”

In the wake of this rising temperatures, the West Bengal government on Thursday had instructed government-run schools to announce summer vacations from May 2. Summer vacations in schools were originally scheduled to start from around May 24-25.