The northwestern parts of India are all set to experience widespread rain over the next four days after a brief dry spell. The latest forecasts said that two western disturbances will impact the Western Himalayan Region and adjoining northwest India this week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said a Western Disturbance (WD) prevails over north Pakistan on Monday and an induced cyclonic circulation lies over Punjab and the neighbourhood region. Owing to the rough weather conditions, the IMD has issued an orange alert over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand for Wednesday and Thursday. Uttarakhand will continue to remain under the same advisory for Friday as well. The advisory instructs residents to ‘be prepared’ for the rough weather conditions.
According to the IMD, the WD are mainly a weather phenomenon whose arrival is associated with snow and rain in the Himalayas and parts of northwest India. The ongoing system is expected to produce scattered rainfall or snowfall with isolated thunderstorms, lightning or hail over the Western Himalayan Region (WHR) on Tuesday.
Moreover, there are also possibilities of very light rain or drizzle over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi from March 8 to 10. Another fresh WD is expected to affect the northwest from Tuesday night onwards. This system will mark its presence through fairly widespread rain or snow with isolated thunderstorms, lightning, or hail over the WHR on March 10-11. Some places of the region may also experience isolated heavy falls on these two days.
According to the IMD, light rains with thunderstorm took place in several parts of UP and Haryana. While snowfall in upper reaches and rains in plains of the Kashmir Valley on Monday brought a fresh cold wave as the mercury slipped seven degrees below the normal temperature for this part of the year. Gulmarg tourist destination in north Kashmir received nearly two feet of fresh snow since Sunday night while many other hilly areas of Kashmir received moderate to light snowfall.