Heavy rain, squally winds, thunderstorm as well as lightning strikes wreaked havoc over many parts of North, Central as well as western parts of the country during the last few days. These Pre-Monsoon activities do make an appearance, however, this time, it was many parts witnessing these activities together.
On Monday as well as Tuesday, the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra were the ones who bore the maximum brunt with intense hailstorm, dust storm, lightning strikes and thunderstorms. At least 60 people have been reported dead due to these intense weather conditions. Delhi settled with strong winds, and rains which caused the temperatures to drop by 10 degrees.
PM Modi has expressed grief at the loss of lives of these people and has assured government support. In fact, ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the families of those killed, and Rs 50,000 each for the injured has also been approved.
However, now, no rainfall activity is expected over the northern, central and western parts of India due to absence of any weather system. Scattered activity may be seen in some parts of the hills of North India.
This winter, over 18 Western Disturbances were seen over the Himalayas as compared to the usual 5 or 6.
On the other hand, heat waves will also be slightly on the higher end this summer season which will once again cause more thunderstorm activities to occur. In fact, for the development of thunderclouds, it is important for the temperatures to be very high and humidity to persist. With heat waves possibilities to be on the larger number, expect these thunderstorms also to be way more frequent and intense in nature.
Last year, 166 people lost lives in Uttar Pradesh due to thunderstorms, 75 in Jharkhand. Meanwhile, dust storms caused 150 casualties in Uttar Pradesh and 68 in Rajasthan.
Image Credit:
