Some elements of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed gentle rains in plains and snowfall over mountains on Friday because the Valley’s harshest winter interval – Chillai Kalan – ended, recording simply 25% of the conventional precipitation, the meteorological centre stated.
Individuals stroll amid rain in Srinagar on Friday. (ANI)
The 40-day Chillai Kalan, which began on December 21, has behaved erratically this winter beginning with a bone chilling evening temperatures of -8° to -12° Celsius however ending with day temperatures of 14-15° Celsius, some 6-7° above regular. The summer season capital Srinagar witnessed chilly wave for a number of days within the first half of Chillai Kalan which froze waterbodies, particularly Dal Lake.
There have been three gentle bouts of snowfall through the interval, together with on December 27-28, January 4-5 and January 16. However total the winter has witnessed a deficit precipitation. Officers of the meteorological centre in Srinagar stated that Chillai Kalan has recorded over 3/4th of deficit in precipitation.
“We had just a few days of precipitation this winter so far. Overall, there has been a deficit of 75% in Kashmir as well as in Jammu divisions,” stated MeT’s Srinagar centre director Mukhtar Ahmad.
Senior meteorologist at MeT Srinagar, Mohammad Hussain Mir, stated the climate has behaved erratically. “The weather has behaved abnormally this winter so far with nights more chilling than normal while days were warmer than normal. In terms of numbers, the minimum temperatures were 3-5 degrees below normal while days were 5-7 degrees above normal,” he stated.
The climate consultants had anticipated that the winter can be harsher with some good spells of precipitation owing to the La Nina international climate impact (La Nina impact is when winds from Pacific journey from East to West and is expounded to floor temperatures of sea water). Nonetheless, that precisely has not occurred this winter.
“The precipitation in Jammu and Kashmir is mainly due to Western Disturbance (WD) which is related to upper air winds and temperatures. La Nina and WD are not one-to-one related but can have coincidental effect on each other,” Mir stated.
The MeT centre stated rain and snowfall are possible from Friday evening which can lengthen to Saturday.
The tough winter interval is adopted by 20 extra winter days (referred to as Chillai Khurd) that are much less intense after which lastly 10 days of gentle chilly (Chille Bache).
Snowfall, rain possible in elements of HP
Dharamshala The India Meteorological Division’s (IMD) Shimla workplace has predicted mild to reasonable precipitation at few locations in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday. Whereas dry climate is anticipated on February 2 (Sunday), mild precipitation is probably going at remoted locations on February 3. Furthermore, the climate workplace has predicted mild to reasonable precipitation at many locations in Himachal on February 4.
IMD officers stated that the climate was primarily dry over the state over the last 24 hours with no giant adjustments in minimal and most temperatures through the interval.