Thanks to a fresh western disturbance, unseasonal wet weather will visit north and northwest India for the next three days starting Wednesday, March 11. Some of the states are likely to receive heavy rainfall in this period, and on Thursday, March 12, an orange alert has been issued across the entire region.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), isolated heavy rain and snowfall is expected over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday and Thursday, and over Himachal Pradesh on Thursday and Friday. Isolated heavy showers are also likely over Punjab on Thursday, and across Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Chandigarh on Friday.
Apart from these isolated heavy showers, the rest of the Western Himalayan region (WHR) and northwestern plains are likely to experience light to moderate fairly widespread to widespread rains between March 11 and 13, except Rajasthan, which shall receive isolated rainfall only.
Moreover, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, hail, and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40 kmph or more) at isolated places are also in the forecast for the WHR and the plains in the same three-day period.
In view of these predictions, IMD’s regional met centre in New Delhi has issued an orange alert over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Rajasthan; and a yellow watch over Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. The orange alert instructs the residents to “be prepared” for the rough weather, while the yellow watch advises them to “be aware” of the conditions.
On Thursday, however, the western disturbance activity is set to hit its peak, due to which all of the aforementioned six states and union territories will be under the orange alert.
A day later, on Friday, the orange alert will remain over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Uttar Pradesh only, whereas dry weather will possibly return to the rest of the states and UTs.
Apart from Himachal Pradesh (normal) and Jammu & Kashmir (excess), all the other north and northwestern territories have already recorded ‘large excess’ rainfall as compared to their long-term averages since the beginning of March. Now, with a fresh spell of unseasonal, pre-monsoon rains on the horizon, these statistics shall only receive a further boost.
