As the western disturbance lies over central Pakistan and near Jammu & Kashmir, cyclonic circulation over south western Rajasthan along with moisture feed from Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea will lead to widespread rain over northwest, central India, internal Tamil Nadu southern Karnataka and snowfall in the middle and higher hills till January 6.
“The Western Disturbance near Jammu & Kashmir is moving ahead. This system was not very effective but it gave light rain at some places on the mountains. Now an active western disturbance has reached north Pakistan which will reach Jammu & Kashmir from January 3 and affect the weather for the next two-three days.
There is already a cyclonic circulation over South Western parts of Rajasthan. Along with this, a trough is formed from northeastern parts of Arabian Sea to Rajasthan,” Skymet, a private weather broadcaster, said.
In addition, a cyclonic circulation is over Chhattisgarh and adjoining areas. Due to the effect of these systems, humid winds from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are reaching the plains states of North India. The weather in North India has changed due to the combined effect of all these systems.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warning for heavy rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh. However, the IMD issued a “yellow” weather warning of heavy rain, snowfall in middle and higher hills on January 4 and thunderstorm and lightning in the plains and lower hills from January 4 to 5.
Further, it has issued “orange” warning of heavy rain and snowfall in middle and higher hills on January 5. Gondla experienced 21 cm snowfall, followed by Koksar 13 cm, Pooh 10 cm, Manali 9 cm, Sumdo 8 cm and Kalpa 6 cm, the IMD said. Chanchal in Shimla district received about two-feet snowfall.
Meanwhile, Manali witnessed 11 mm rain, followed by Keylong 9 mm, Bilaspur 8 mm, Dharamshala 7 mm, Chamba 6 mm, Palampur and Kasauli 5 mm each and Shimla and Solan 3mm each. Besides, the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti’s administrative centre Keylong continued to be the coldest place in the state at minus 6.1 degrees Celsius.
Rain and thundershowers occurred at a few places in western Uttar Pradesh while Banda was the coldest place in the state where the mercury dipped to 5.4 degrees Celsius.Very light rains also occurred in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the meteorological department predicting thunderstorm in some places of western UP on Monday.
A blanket of snow covered Kashmir on Sunday as most areas received moderate snowfall, cutting the valley’s surface as well as air connection with the rest of the country.
