Kolkata: With a rain count of a little over 350 mm, this is the wettest June in Kolkata in the last five years. Fuelled by five significant thundershower spells in the past 12 days, the city now has a monthly rain surplus of around 29%. The Met office eyes more showers in the coming days, during which the city and other southern districts could be hit by some heavy rain.Despite the monsoon being in a sluggish phase over south Bengal, the city has been experiencing sharp thundershowers, ensuring the rain surplus while keeping the mercury under check on most days. During the past five such thundershowers, Alipore recorded rainfall ranging between 27 and 89 mm during each spell.In June 2025, Kolkata logged a total rain count of 241.1 mm in June, while in June 2024, 2023 and 2022, the cumulative monthly total rain amounts for the city were 143.2 mm, 159.9 mm and 115.8 mm, respectively. June 2021 and 2020, however, had slightly higher rainfall of 398.5 and 387.2 mm, respectively.“Despite the weak monsoon flow, we come across frequent thunderstorm activities in south Bengal, including Kolkata. This time, some of these thunderstorm spells were intense, leading to a rain surplus of around 29%,” said H R Biswas, head at Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.Altogether, June 2026 saw 17 rainy days, 12 of which happened after the southwest monsoon hit the city and the rest of south Bengal on June 12. Due to these thundershowers, the maximum temperature remained below normal on 11 days. Despite the feel-like temperature crossing 45°C on a couple of days due to heavy moisture content, the highest maximum temperature this month remained at only 37°C.The highest single-day rain this June was 89 mm of rain, which left parts of the city and suburbs under water on June 25. This rain count also is the highest single-day rain count of June in the past five years.After the Monday afternoon downpour, the sky remained gloomy since the morning on Tuesday, with spells of light to moderate rain on and off. But unlike the other thundershowers in the past fortnight triggered by intense local thunderclouds, the Tuesday shower was triggered by rain-bearing monsoon clouds.
