NEW DELHI: After a freakishly dry winter so far, the northern hill states are likely to get their first major spell of snowfall, and the plains of north India much-needed rain, with two back-to-back western disturbances set to impact the region over the next six days or so.
The India Meteorological Department on Tuesday issued orange alerts for snow/rain on Wednesday over J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, and for Thursday over the same region (with Uttarakhand’s alert being lowered to yellow).
While Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be the peak days, light to moderate and fairly widespread rain/snow is “very likely” over the hills till Feb 4, IMD said, although several weather models show rain activity persisting till Feb 5.
“This will be the first spell of rain in north India this year. In the winter season so far, there was just one spell of rain in Dec, and that too did not impact the hills. For the Himalayan region of the north, the current western disturbances are expected to bring the first major and widespread snowfall in the winter season,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, chief of IMD.
Winter snowfall plays a crucial role in hill ecology in several ways, not least in augmenting water sources and glaciers that provide water supply not only to this region but also to the plains of north India. Extremely dry conditions due to lack of rain/snow this season had led to major fires at several places in J&K, Himachal and Uttarakhand at the peak of winter. In the plains too, winter rain is key for the rabi crop and for regulating temperatures.
Dense fog, which has plagued north India since late Dec, is very likely in the morning hours over some places in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi on Wednesday as well as Feb 2 and 3, the IMD update said. However, strong northerly winds are expected from around Feb 5 which may break the fog spell while lowering night temperatures.