Rajan Alexander, who runs a blog called Devconsultancygroup warn of fresh rain and snow and treacherous conditions in the North and Northwest regions
Moneylife Digital Team
A fresh western disturbance called J2 is expected to affect western the Himalayan region and adjoining plains from 14 January 2012 onwards, bringing back snow, fog and rains over disparate regions of the north and northwest, warns Mr Rajan. He goes on to say, “The passage of the past few western disturbances like that on 10th January and its warmth to the east of the country has already left the northwest literally in a cold wave. The fresh one will plunge temperatures and increase snow chaos even further. With the troposphere already below freezing level and together humidity at around 80%, the coming western disturbance could prove to be the most treacherous for the season as of now.”
The last western disturbance, plunged temperatures and massive snow disrupted the road transportation network apart from public utility services such as electricity, water supply and telecommunications in states of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. These states have slowly limped back to normalcy, says Mr Rajan in his blog—http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.com/
As seen from the temperature map of 13th January, the Indian sub-continent is relatively cool, with parts of north and north west India relatively colder. Snow is confined to a narrow band within the country—J&K, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, etc. Temperatures even here by and large are less than minus 20 deg C. Minimum temperatures in other parts of north and central India are in single digits though it may feel 1-2 deg C colder due to wind chill effect.
However in the coming days this could change.
Rajesh Kapadia who is tracking J2 in his blog vagaries of the weather commented:
“In India, the nights have become above normal starting from the extreme west
J-2 will precipitate over northern Pakistan, from Saturday. Heavier in the Northern most regions and tapering intensity southwards.”
On Saturday, the north Indian states of Kashmir and HP would get snow/rains, and cloudy in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. Heavier intensity would occur on Sunday in Kashmir and HP Snowfall would be in the range of 40-60 cms in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Lahul regions of HP. Srinagar can expect snow, too, as the day’s maximum are below freezing since the last five days.
But, J-2 , it seems has a shorter life span, of just about two to three days. I would expect Pakistan to be clear from Monday 16th, and the north Indian regions would go dry from Tuesday. A prevailing ‘high’ is likely to disintegrate the system, allowing just about a day’s precipitation in Uttaranchal.
Strong northerly winds from Monday will bring a fall in temperatures in northern plains of India, including Delhi. Mumbai and Pune are also expected to see a fall in temperature in the coming days according to Mr Rajesh.