KOLKATA: The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm on Friday that will lightly drench Kolkata as it grazes past the Bengal coastline on its way to Bangladesh at wind speeds of up to 80km per hour, the Met department has said.Christened Midhili, the cyclonic storm will make a much bigger splash in the state's coastal districts, bringing 70mm to 110mm of rain in North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah and East Midnapore between Thursday and Friday.Alipore weathermen expect Kolkata to get 20mm to 30mm rain on Friday.A second system, a deep depression off the Andhra coast, is also headed northwards towards Odisha, keeping the Bay of Bengal exceptionally busy this season.
This is the first time since 2018 that the Bay of Bengal has seen two simultaneous deep depressions.
Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director G K Das, however, dispelled the concern over the two systems coming close enough to interact with one another, or develop into a super cyclone.
Midhili is the third cyclone in the northern Bay after Tej and Hamoon in a span of a month and half.
"Cyclonic storms are relatively frequent in the Bay during November but they seldom have a substantial impact in Bengal as they usually recurve towards Bangladesh," said Das.
Overcast sky brings down max temp by 3C, pulls up minimumCyclone Midhili is unlikely to have any significant bearing on Kolkata's temperature.
"Repeated systems developing in the Bay may cause frequent clouding, preventing the temperature from dropping," Das said.Although Midhili is expected to make landfall between Mongla and Khepupara in Bangladesh on Saturday morning, rain in Bengal is unlikely to continue into the weekend.
While the temperature is also likely to be stable over next week, Thursday's overcast sky brought the maximum temperature down by th-ree notches to 27C and pulled the minimum up to 23.9C.
There were light drizzles in several parts of Kolkata, including at Eden Gardens, which hosted the World Cup semi-final between Australia and South Africa on Thursday.
The name 'Midhili' was given by Maldives.
Countries affected by Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal cyclones rotationally name cyclones in a sequence, starting with Bangladesh followed by India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE and Yemen.
The last cyclone, Hamoon, was named by Iran.