New Delhi, Snowfall activities are expected to increase over the hills of Jammu and Kashmir valley from tomorrow evening onwards. The Western Disturbance over northeast Jammu & Kashmir is expected to keep affecting the temperatures for the next three to four days.

Rain is bringing down the temperatures sharply at a height of 10000-12000 ft, creating freezing conditions, and is finally precipitating as snow over these higher ridges. Temperatures are falling considerably over Jammu & Kashmir as maximum temperatures are below normal by 2-3 degrees over many parts.

The day temperature in Srinagar has dipped to five degrees below normal and is in the range of 17-18 degrees. Minimum temperatures are in the range of 5-7 degrees. In frontier region of Leh&Ladakh and towns of Kargil low of 3.2 and 3.4 deg C, the lowest in any part of the state was recorded.

The state saw its first snowfall on October 4 and the surrounding areas of famous hill resorts of Pahalgam in south, Gulmarg in north. Sonamarg in central Kashmir recorded the second snowfall on October 16. Snowfall activities are again likely to pick up during the next 24 to 48 hours starting from tomorrow evening.

New Delhi, Delhi is considered to be in the Zone IV, high damage earthquake area. It means that the national capital has a structural default as it lies in the epicenter area. Keeping this in mind, a pilot project is being carried out by the Ministry of Earth Sciences to further microzone the city on a scale of 1:10,000.

This study will help assess the damage which can be caused to life or property in case of an earthquake. This will also help disaster management authorities to understand area-specific vulnerability and formulate building codes for the city.

In Delhi, the character of soil structure is not uniform and the impact of an earthquake varies. The capital presents a number of unique challenges due to its proximity to the Himalayas that have a number of fault lines.

Fault lines are a likely place for the epicenter. Besides the Himalayan fault system, there are other zones and fault lines like the Delhi-Haridwar ridge zone, Mahendragarh fault line, Rajasthan boundary fault line, Moradabad fault line and the Sohna fault line.

This mixed domain of hard and soft ground, amplifies the problem. This complexity is further aggravated by Delhi’s long history of evolution as a mega city, co-existence of historical structures with modern skyscrapers and well-laid residential buildings. And all these issues point out that there is a serious need of evaluation of this seismic hazard in the city.

New Delhi, An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale hit the bordering districts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh at 8:02 am this morning. Mild shocks were witnessed in Sarguja division of Chhattisgarh and Jabalpur, Umaria and Shahdol districts of Madhya Pradesh. No damage to life or property has been reported so far. The epicenter of the quake was 150kms from Jabalpur division. In Shahdol district, tremors were felt for almost 20-30 seconds and forced residents to come out of their houses in fear.

New Delhi, A more humid atmosphere than before, rising sea levels, relentless heat oriented drought in the US, crops destroyed by drought in Russia and Ukraine, rain scarcity in Somalia, flood threatening North Korea of food shortages and Finland recording highest rainfall in a single year in the last 150 years. Is the world worldwide is being influenced by climate changes that are taking place on earth.

The trend of climate change can already be seen. The mean temperature has rises, the quantity of sea ice has decreased in the north due to melting of Arctic glaciers, the snow cover has lessen, the ocean surface has rises, the water has become warmer, both high and low temperatures turned extreme more frequent than before.

Global scale researchers say that the signs are evident.  The average temperature of the earth has increased by 0.8 degrees from the beginning of the 20th century. There is more water in the seas, as the water level is rising at a rate of three milimetres a year - 30 Centimeters in a century. In the Baltic Sea the impact is less because of isostatic uplift. But the ice is coming from the polar icecaps, which are melting faster than predicted. In Finland, the average temperature has risen at a rate of about one degree in 100 years. The greatest increase in warmth has been in the spring, and snows are melting earlier than before. The snow cover has become thinner, and the period has become shorter when lakes are covered with ice.

There has been record heat, record drought, and record amounts of rain. These weather functions have become usual events and these are taking place according to the predictions made by Climate scientists all around the world. They had predicted that extreme weather phenomena - heat waves, dry spells, tropical storms - will become more common as climate change sets in.

New Delhi, Chennai is famous for the rain which took place when entire nation excluding southern Peninsula remain in the grip of winters. This year too when temperatures are falling in the northern plains, the city is gearing up for northeast monsoon rain, but due to the ongoing civil works around the city, question is being raised that is Chennai ready to welcome the northeast monsoon.

Rains could create a big challenge for the Chennai Corporation as only 40% work of the 533 km storm water drain work in the old limits of the corporation is complete. The project covers 12 water bodies, including the Cooum, Captain Cotton Canal and Otteri Nullah. The civic body is yet to take up works in the newly-added areas of the corporation.

The traffic police is being blamed for the low pace of work on storm water drains. The ongoing metro rail works will worsen the conditions if there is flooding. There are several traffic diversions across the city because of the metro rail works and if any of these stretches are water-logged, traffic will be severely affected.

On the brink of saying good bye to the southwest monsoon and welcoming the northeast monsoon, Chennai is expected with moderate to heavy rains during the next 72 hours. Rains with winds could also uproot trees and the workers needed to be prepared for such situation. Arrangements have been made for lodging of several lakhs of people in schools and marriage halls if there is wide-spread inundation.

New Delhi, Heavy rain in the past couple of days in Cauvery basin in Karnataka could ease the rising tension over sharing the Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu. On Monday, 4000 cusecs water flowed at Biligundlu on the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Border. This water flow is bound to increase due to the heavy rains in the catchment areas, downstream of KRS dam.

Earlier this year, tension between the states was high as Karnataka refused to follow an order by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) to ensure 8.85 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu between October 16 and 31.Thanks to the rainfall in Mysore, taluks of Chamarajnagar districts, Malavalli and Mandya received 74 mm and 56.5 mm of rainfall respectively while Pandavapura and Srirangapatna, both in the immediate downstream of KRS dam, registered 62.5 mm and 45.5 mm.

This rainwater not only seems to have abated the Cauvery crisis for the time being but has also proved to be beneficial for the KRS dam. On Monday, due to a rise in the flow, water started logging into the KRS dam and jumped to 8153 cusecs, resulting in a water level rise from 104.85 ft to 105.53 ft.

New Delhi, Can weather be a reason for domestic violence? Can't say, but if Police in the UK is to be believed, they are witnessing a rise in domestic violence cases during incessant periods of rain. Police in UK are blaming the bad weather for this. They claim that the wettest summer on record forced couples to stay indoor that resulted in 'Cabin Fever' among them which led to violent outbursts.

According to the data released by MeteoGroup, Britain has received 14.25 inches of rain during June, July and August, making it the wettest summer since 1912. Devon and Cornwall Police said that violent crimes in tranquil Sidmouth rose from 90 to 124 in the past one year. Britain saw just 143 hours of sunshine in the same period.

There had been 75 domestic abuse cases in Devon and Cornwall, which have been hit by heavy rain, in the past 24 hours. Sidmouth Town Council's Sergeant Andy Turner blamed the increase on two new housing developments and the relentless rain the region had endured. But the incessant rain did help see a fall in offenses such as criminal damage and anti-social behaviour,

New Delhi, Residents of Mumbai sweating it out again as the October heat sets in. After the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, the commercial capital witnessed temperature rising up to 35.5 degrees on Sunday and low quantity of moisture in the air added to the discomfort.

On October 14, the observatories at Colaba and Santa Cruz respectively recorded 35 and 35.5 degrees as maximum temperature. They registered 2.2 and 2.1 degrees above normal temperatures respectively. The humidity levels were as low as 58% at Colaba and 48% at Santa Cruz.

This rise in temperatures is attributed to the withdrawal of monsoon as the moisture devoid northwesterly winds from land are coming towards the city. So, temperature during the daytime is bound to increase and the humidity would decrease to make life uneasy during the day. The humidity level will go up only in the morning due to the overnight sea breeze.

New Delhi, Puja Preparations in Kolkata, are expected to get a boost as the rain is likely to get subdued during the next two to three days. The city has received more than 30 mm of rain during the last 24 hours. The rain with decreasing intensity is expected to continue over the city during the next 24 to 48 hours.

Rain is expected to be subdued as the depression over the west Bay of Bengal, the reason for the present showers, has weakened and moved away in a northeast direction. This also indicates that the southwest monsoon is likely to bid adieu to the City of Joy during this period after which the easterly northeasterly winds are expected to set in over the city.

However, during the next two days, the morning and the afternoon would start giving some respite to the city dwellers who were itching to go for that shopping spree. Due to less rain the humidity would also decrease. It would also provide some relief to Puja Pandal creators who were incurring losses due to rain. But the evening may not be a suitable time for going out during the next 48 hours as a few spells of showers are expected then.