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Overheated April? Joining the dots

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kolkata, April 27 April is a cruel month. The maximum temperature in Kolkata has hovered around the 39-degree mark. The weathermen, however, forecast a dip in the mercury levels. Suchetana Haldar catches up with Alipore Met Department Director GC Debnath to understand the heat trail

* Five districts in West Bengal had a heat wave alert. How do you explain such abnormally high temperatures at this time of the year?
This year the high temperature prevailed for a longer time and the westerly flow was very strong. There was less moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal as there was no trough of low pressure over the state.

* Do you predict any immediate respite in sight from the heat?
Yes. It will be less hot in the next few days. The temperature in the districts of West Bengal is likely to subside from Saturday and it is likely to be near normal. But there will be no let up in the discomfort owing to humidity.

* Any possibility of rain?
There is. But rainfall will be limited only to the three districts in North Bengal —- Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar.

* Surprisingly for April, the squalls and thunderstorms have been missing. Why?
That is another reason for the high temperatures. Generally, we have at least four Nor’westers in April. But this year only two squalls have been reported, the last one being on April 13.

* Can we trace a pattern or a trend in such extreme changes in climate? Is it a fall out of the global climate change?
No, it has nothing to do with the global climate change. It is just a year-to-year variation in temperature and we cannot really predict a long-term change. We cannot plot a trend for it. For instance, the temperature in April 2007 was lower than this year.

* Could the high temperature be related to the increase in pollution levels?
No, I don’t think the high temperature could be attributed to the increased pollution levels in the city.

* The Centre has announced a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project for 13 coastal states of the country. Has the Alipore Met Department any plans regarding this?
No, we are not aware of it. It’s too early to say anything on it.

* What are your plans of technological upgradations and installation of new equipment?
We already have 13 automatic weather stations operational.
We will soon be installing more automatic rain gauges and automatic weather stations to strengthen our activities. Till recently, we only had manual weather stations.