The hills of North India that comprise of the three states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand receive a fair amount of rainfall during the month of April. However, the quantity of rainfall observed by Jammu & Kashmir is much more amongst all three.
Usually, in the month of April, Jammu & Kashmir records 97.5 mm of rains, followed by Himachal Pradesh that records 65 mm of rains, while Uttarakhand records the least with 33 mm of rains. This year, during the first few days of the month, only Jammu & Kashmir recorded some scattered rain activities while the other two have remained dry so far.
Due to the absence of rains, the day temperatures in most parts of the state had increased significantly and settled few notches above the normal. In fact, the maximum temperatures at many parts of Himachal Pradesh were five to eight degrees above the normal, while in Uttarakhand, the mercury levels mounted 4 degrees beyond the normal levels.
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At present also, the mid-reaches of all the three states are recording the temperatures in mid-20’s while the upper reaches are registering the daytime highs in double digits and in high teens.
However, now Skymet Weather expects some changes in weather conditions across all the three states of northern hills. This change would be in association with the Western Disturbance over Pakistan and adjoining regions.
As of now, these rains are likely to continue over all the three states during the next 24-48 hours. In addition to this, the embedded cyclonic circulation over the plains would also push the rainfall both in terms of intensity and spread.
In fact, in the last 24 hours also, few stations of northern hills recorded some light to moderate rains. Within the span of 24 hours, from 08:30 am on Friday, Pithoragarh recorded 26.3 mm of rains, Pantnagar 22.6 mm, Batote 15.8 mm, Dharamsala 8.2 mm, Manali 8 mm, Hamirpur 6.8 mm, Almora 5 mm, Gulmarg 4.2 mm and Banihal recorded 3 mm of rains.
This weather activity would be followed by the impact of another weather system that is likely to approach the Western Himalayan region by April 8 which would be more intense in nature. Thus the ongoing rainy spell would continue until April 10.
These rain and thundershower activities may be accompanied by hailstorm as well. In fact, the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir may also witness some snowfall. Moreover, the time is also vulnerable for landslides and mudslides, hence caution while traveling is advisable.
In the year 2017 also, the month of April was constructive in giving a good amount of rainfall over the hills. Looking at the rainfall percentages of all the three states as on April 2017, Jammu & Kashmir was 61% rain surplus followed by Uttarakhand with 59% excess rainfall and Himachal Pradesh with 34% excess rains.
Image Credit: The Indian Express
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com