Met warns of more rain in North; farmers’ woes pile up

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 30

Rains and thunderstorms lashed Jammu and Kashmir and several places across the country in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and coastal and Kerala. No let up looks imminent as the IMD is predicting some more unseasonal rains in the days to come.

Kashmir, which is passing through another bad spell within an year, is set to get more rains. Similar is the case with Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, though not as much in intensity.
IMD Director General Laxman Singh Rathore explains the situation, particularly for Kashmir: "There will be rains in the first week of April, the question is of magnitude. The region will get light rains today and tomorrow. There can be light to moderate showers on April 1. On April 2 and 3 some more moderate to heavy spells can be expected. The weather will ease thereafter," he says.
Speaking about the "unusual spells of rain”, IMD chief Rathore agrees "such a weather is not normally expected at this time of the year".
The current spell of rain in key growing states, especially Punjab and Haryana, may spell further trouble for farmers as increase in moisture level could affect quality of grain and delay harvesting, experts say. April 1 onwards, fairly widespread rain and thundershowers are expected over the Western Himalayan region.
On April 2 and April 3, thunderstorms accompanied by hailstorm are predicted at isolated places over Punjab, West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Rajasthan, spelling more trouble for the farmers who are yet to recover from the spell of bad weather in the first week of March, which has gone down as the wettest in the past 100 years or so.
Heavy rain and snowfall was likely to occur at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.