Weather alert: Early snow and excess rain grip North India, Punjab farmers hit hard

Fairly widespread light to moderate rain along with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds with speeds of 30-40 kmph are expected over many parts of Punjab on Tuesday, according to the weather department, as western disturbances continue to prevail over northwest India.

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A yellow alert has been issued for districts along the eastern edge of Punjab.

Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahar, Ropar, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala are among the districts where relatively heavy rainfall is likely, according to data compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The western areas are expected to receive light rain.

A similar alert has been issued for most districts in northern, central and southern Haryana.

Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts in the western part of the state are likely to receive isolated rain.

Some upper reaches of the hill state of Himachal Pradesh received snow over the past two days, while many other areas received significant rain.

According to the IMD, most places in Himachal Pradesh are expected to receive light to moderate rainfall along with thunderstorms and lightning on October 7, with light rain expected at a few places on October 8.

Over the past two days, the region has been experiencing widespread rain, leading to a significant post-monsoon surplus in precipitation during the first week of October, which will bring down temperatures, according to weather department officials.

Till October 6, rainfall has been surplus by 415 per cent in Punjab. I

n the neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, rainfall during this period has been in excess by 248 per cent and 129 per cent, respectively, according to data compiled by the IMD.

The current spell of wet weather, which is expected to end by October 8, also has implications for inflows into major reservoirs in the region, where the water level is being kept several feet below the permissible upper limit to provide a cushion for any surge from heavy rainfall in the catchment areas.

In August-September, Pong had witnessed unprecedented inflows, with the water level remaining up to five feet above the upper limit for several weeks due to heavy rains.

At Bhakra, the water level remained below the upper limit this year. Pong is located in Kangra district, close to the border with Punjab.

The dam’s catchment area lies across Kullu, Mandi, and Kangra districts. According to IMD data, rainfall till October 6 has been surplus by a massive 5,353 per cent in Kullu, 1,963 per cent in Mandi and 1,367 percent in Kangra.

After entering India from Tibet, the Sutlej flows through the districts of Kinnaur, Shimla, Mandi, and Bilaspur, before moving into Punjab.

While October rains have been deficient by 73 per cent in Kinnaur, they have been in excess by 554 per cent in Shimla and 1,417 per cent in Bilaspur.

Similarly, the Ravi river, which feeds the reservoir at Thein Dam in Punjab, flows through the Kangra and Chamba districts in Himachal and Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts in Punjab before entering Pakistan. These areas have also experienced surplus rains this month.