Jammu and kashmir, which has been enjoying light rains for the past few weeks, is all set to see a boost in its rainfall intensity in the coming days.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a western disturbance in the form of a trough will bring light precipitation over Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad during the next 24 hours.
However, things will get just the teensiest bit serious when another western disturbance will begin impacting the northernmost parts of the country from the night of February 8.
Under its influence, light/moderate scattered to fairly widespread rainfall or snowfall is very likely over the Western Himalayan Region between Wednesday and Friday (February 8 and 10).
The precipitation is expected to peak on Thursday (February 9), with isolated heavy rains (64.5 mm-115.5 mm), thunderstorms and lightning likely to hit the Kashmir Valley on Thursday.
Owing to these forecasts, a yellow watch (meaning ‘be updated’) has been issued across Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh on Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, as a result of the snowfall and avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir over the weekend, authorities were prompted to shut down a total of 173 roads, including three National Highways. And while the roadways have been opened to commuters since, the projected heavy rainfall and snowfall activity might disrupt traffic yet again this week.
The western disturbances producing such weather conditions are basically low-pressure systems that originate over the Mediterranean Sea, gather moisture as they move westwards, and then dump it over North India. Such systems are commonplace for the region at this time of the year.
In fact, one western disturbance after another has consistently been affecting the northern parts of the country almost constantly these past few weeks. And the active systems between January 26 and February 1 this year led to quite a notable spike in the region’s rainfall stats, having dumped 65.3 mm rain/snow over Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh (an excess of 141%!) during this 7-day period.
