West Bengal weather: Red alert in the North; Rath Yatra to be affected by heavy rains?

The Alipore Meteorological Department (AMD) on Monday predicted heavy rain of about 7-11cm across many parts of South Bengal, including Kolkata.

This has sparked questions on what to expect for July 16, which is the first day of the highly anticipated nine-day Rath Yatra, celebrated across the state.

Several prominent Rath Yatras take place in West Bengal, including ISKCON's Kolkata procession and the Mahesh Rath Yatra in Hooghly.

The AMD forecast came after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued a red alert for North Bengal on Monday, warning of heavy to very heavy rain in some places—up to 20cm—with extremely heavy rain (more than 20cm) in a few places like Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

Notably, the AMD has said that the monsoon trough is currently active in a number of regions in North India—from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, to North Bengal and Manipur.

The area is also seeing an influx of cyclonic activity from Bangladesh, due to which a large amount of water vapour has been coming in from the Bay of Bengal, an Anandabazar Patrika report noted.

As for Tuesday, the whole of South Bengal is set to receive scattered rain, with heavy rains predicted for certain spots like both North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and East and West Medinipur.

The North Bengal has received a yellow alert for thunderstorms and heavy rain in certain regions like Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

Wednesday is quite similar, with a yellow alert issued across the state for heavy rains of about 7-11cm and thunderstorms in certain regions.

However, the IMD has also predicted strong winds of about 30-40 km/h, which may even shoot up to 50km/h in the southwestern parts of the state, such as East and West Medinipur, and South 24 Parganas.

Most importantly, the Rath Yatra on Thursday is all set to see heavy rains in most parts of South Bengal, especially Howrah, Hooghly, East and West Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia and West Medinipur.

Strong winds of 30-50 km/h are all set to continue on Thursday, though no alert has been sounded by the IMD for North Bengal yet on that day.

Notably, the West Bengal government had already announced it would provide Rs 5 lakh to all verified Rath Yatra organising committees across the state, in addition to orders to district administrations to help conduct the festival smoothly.