3 western disturbances to bring rain in Himalayan region this week: IMD

Three western disturbances in quick succession are expected to bring in a wet spell over the western Himalayan region during the next 7 days, with heavy rainfall and snowfall likely over some places in the mountains on Thursday and Friday, and scattered rainfall over the adjoining plains of northwest India from January 22 – 25.

A western disturbance is prevailing in the middle and upper tropospheric westerlies over north Pakistan, while an intense western disturbance is likely to affect Northwest India from the night of January 21, and high moisture feeding fromthe  Arabian Sea over northwest India is expected on January 23 and 24, according to a bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Rainfall has been severely deficient over north-western India so far this month. From January 1 to January 20, rains have been below the long-period average by 93 percent in Himachal Pradesh, 91 percent in Haryana, and 86 percent in Punjab.

The dry spell prevailing over the region has resulted in day temperatures being above normal by up to 6.6 degrees in Punjab and 5.5 degrees in Haryana, although night temperatures in these states are near normal.

During the past 24 hours, the maximum temperatures recorded in Punjab ranged from 20 degrees Celsius at Gurdaspur to 25 degrees Celsius at Ropar, while in Haryana, these were between 21.3 degrees Celsius at Yamunanagar to 25 degrees Celsius at Bhiwani.

The minimum temperatures in Punjab were between 2.8 degrees Celsius at Amritsar and 9.1 degrees Celsius at Ropar, while in Haryana, these were between 5 degrees Celsius at Sonepat and 9 degrees Celsius at Gurugram, according to IMD data.

The weather department does not expect any large change in minimum temperature during the next 48 hours. A rise by 3-4 degrees during the subsequent 24 hours and a fall thereafter is likely. Dense fog is also expected at many places.