An active Western Disturbance, accompanied by an induced low pressure area that will develop unusually far south as March begins, is likely to lash India and Pakistan with heavy thunderstorms & rain and bury mountains with snow.
While isolated showers and thunderstorms will occur over Pakistan and northwestern India on Saturday, the brunt of the storm will be borne by these regions on early Sunday to Monday night.
Farther up north, about 1 to 3 feet of snow will be dumped over the Himalayas by the time the snow winds down. The snow will not only be confined to India and Pakistan but will also include the mountain ranges in NE Afghanistan and Nepal.
The snow could put the region at risk for some more avalanches, with the most recent occurring over NE Afghanistan where the death toll has already crossed 200. It is advisable that to avoid a life-threatening situation and becoming stranded, mountaineers should avoid venturing into the mountains during the impending snowfall.
Thunderstorms will move across northern and central India, in an eastward movement, during this time. A steadier downpour will inundate northern Pakistan as heavy snowfall will bury the western Himalayas.
Scattered thunderstorms are likely to unleash downpours, over Maharashtra, Gujarat, M.P. and U.P. including cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Agra and Lucknow. Some of these localized thunderstorms may also kick up damaging winds and hail.
WDs occasionally take a southward track towards the end of winters and impact places in Gangetic plains, but it is rare for widespread rains elsewhere across northern and central India as March starts. Rainfall is virtually unheard of in February and March in Mumbai & surrounding areas.
