Inclement weather has been affecting the North Indian plains for the past four days. Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds and isolated hailstorm across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR and parts of West Uttar Pradesh.
While rains are beneficial for standing crops during this time of the year, hailstorm has damaged crops including wheat, coriander and mustard crops across Punjab, West Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.
These rains can be attributed to the combined effect of a Western Disturbance and an induced cyclonic circulation. This Western Disturbance was a strong and slow moving system, which also gave good rains over many areas in the Middle East.
Strong winds and hailstorm have caused immense damage to crops across the Indo-Gangetic plains just a few days before the harvesting season. Now, the weather conditions will improve for a few days. However, some light rainfall activity is once again expected over the foothills of Punjab and Haryana between March 17 and 19.
While light rainfall activity is also expected over Vidarbha, Telangana, and Karnataka in the coming days, these rains will not be intense enough to cause damage to the crops. Earlier rainy spells in Maharashtra have already destroyed several crops.
By the end of this month, more rain is expected over the plains of North India after March 27. The weather will remain clear around March 21 and 26, however, good showers close to the harvesting season may result in more crop damage across the Northwestern Plains.
