Western disturbance

Contents • • • • • Key Points • Making these predictions, IMD issued yellow and orange alerts for the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar, for January 11 to January 13. • Scattered to fairly widespread light or moderate rainfall is expected over these states. • Isolated thunderstorms with lightning or hail are also predicted for Jharkhand, Bihar & Gangetic West Bengal on January 11 while for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim & Telangana on January 12. What is western disturbance? Western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in Mediterranean region. The disturbance brings sudden winter rain over northern parts of Indian subcontinent. It extends in east up to northern parts of Bangladesh and South eastern Nepal. It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern and is driven by the westerlies. Western disturbances are more frequent and stronger in the winter season.[6] How moisture originates? The moisture in such storms originates over Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea and Black Sea. Extratropical storms are a global phenomenon, wherein moisture is carried in upper atmosphere. They are different than their tropical counterparts, in which moisture is carried in lower atmosphere. In Indian subcontinent, moisture is shed as rain when this storm system encounters the Himalayas. Significance of Western Disturbances Western disturbances are significant for the development of Rabi crop, which includes staple wheat. How is it formed? Western disturbances originat...

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Air is an extremely compressible gas, and as a result, atmospheric pressure varies considerable with height. Western Disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the north-western parts of the Indian sub-continent. In this article we have discussed, the concept of western disturbance, from where it is originates and how it impact on the Indian sub-continent. Air is an extremely compressible gas, and as a result, atmospheric pressure varies considerable with height. This pressure is not equally distributed every part of the globe and also not always the same for any one region all the time. Atmospheric pressure is affected by altitude, temperature and by the Earth's rotation. Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon which transfer energies equal to several megaton nuclear bombs, from the ocean to the atmosphere every year. Nearly 70 to 90 cyclonic systems are develop all over the globe every year. The Coriolis force, the deflecting force caused by the rotation of the Earth about its own axis, is maximum at the poles and progressively decreases to zero at the equator. These forces compel the surface winds to spiral towards the low pressure system. What is Western Disturbance? The extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the north-western parts of the Indian sub-continent is called Western Disturbance. It is a non-monsoonal preci...

The Himalayas are storehouse of freshwater, which is of utmost importance for agriculture and power generation for billions of people in India. Winter (December, January and February: DJF) precipitation associated with Western Disturbances (WDs) influences Himalayan climate, glaciers, snow-water storage, etc. One-third of annual precipitation over northern Indian region is received during winter. Winter WDs are synoptic-scale systems embedded the subtropical westerly jet (SWJ). Their orographic interaction with the Himalayas intensifies precipitation over Pakistan and northern India. Precipitation due to WDs and associated dynamics are termed as Indian winter monsoon (IWM). The present study focuses on the WDs climatology using National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research, US (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis data. The period of study spans over 29 years (1986–2016) during which ~500 WDs were observed as per India Meteorological Department (IMD) daily weather report. Precipitation, vertical distribution of wind and geopotential height during the passage of these WDs are analyzed. Importantly, a new index, Western Disturbance Index (WDI), for measuring strength of IWM is proposed by using difference of geopotential height at 200 and 850 hPa levels. The index is able to capture changes in 500 hPa wind, air temperature and mean sea level pressure during the passage of WDs. • Ananthakrishnan R and Soman M K 1989 Statistical distribution of daily r...

The Hills of the Western Himalayas are still waiting for heavy snowfall. The first snowfall was recorded over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in the last week of November and the initial period of December. Although the frequency of Western disturbances remained normal during last two months, but the intensity of these Western Disturbances was very less. Many feeble Western Disturbances approached the Western Himalayas and failed to give any significant weather activity. Moderate-intensity Western disturbance approached Hills during last week of December 2022 between December 29 and 31st and has given scattered snow fall. Wait now seems to be over as a intense Western disturbance is expected to reach Jammu Kashmir. It will give moderate snowfall with isolated heavy spells over Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh between January 8 and 10. Isolated pockets of Uttarakhand may also receive rain and snow. Another Western Disturbance may reach Western Himalayas soon after. Second Western disturbance seems to be more intense and may give heavy snowfall over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand between January 12 and 13. After the passage of the Western disturbances, icy cold winds from the Western Himalayas will sweep across northwest and Central India leading to a significant drop in temperatures.

Despite a few heat waves, India has had an unusually pleasant summer so far. Temperatures in most places have been 1 to 4 degrees Celsius below normal, going against predictions of a very hot summer. Intermittent, sometimes heavy, rain, mainly over northwest and central India, has played a role in keeping temperatures in check. Rainfall in March, April, and May has been higher than usual, and central India has been especially wet. Vehicles moves as it rains in the Pink City of Jaipur on Sunday. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras) However, the relatively comfortable weather so far should not be considered an indication of the way things will unfold in the rest of the year. The monsoon season, which officially began on Thursday, will be critical as always. In India, there was a heat-wave like situation in February — a month for which heat-wave conditions are not even defined because heat waves are expected only in April, May, and June. April and May did indeed witness a few severe spells of heat waves in some parts of the country, and led to an incident in which 13 people died in Despite the IMD’s forecast of a normal monsoon, apprehensions remain. The developing El Niño in the equatorial Pacific Ocean is expected to get very strong in the coming months, and has the potential to spoil India’s monsoon. Rain and cool weather And yet, the first five months of the year have been far from being uncomfortably hot, the few heat waves notwithstanding. Only parts of east and north-ea...

How the ‘killer’ cold has disappeared from north India A weather system called western disturbance has brought much-needed respite from cold wave conditions over northwest India. Under its influence, light or moderate isolated to scattered showers are expected in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana in the coming days It’s not just you who is not feeling a nip in the air anymore. As cold wave conditions abated over northwest India on Thursday (19 January), citizens have got some respite from the bone-chilling weather. The minimum temperature in Delhi rose to 10.6 degrees Celsius today (20 January), over 3.6 notches above normal. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the maximum temperature to settle at 22 degrees Celsius in the National Capital today. IMD issues orange alert in Eastern states for five days amid continuous heatwave Biparjoy likely to hit Gujarat coast on 15 June as 'Very Severe Cyclonic Storm': IMD The weather agency has attributed the relief from the intense cold wave to fresh western disturbances affecting the western Himalayan region. What is a western disturbance and how it impacts mercury? What is the IMD forecast for north India for the coming days? Let’s take a closer look. Western Disturbance Western disturbances are storms that form in the Caspian or Mediterranean Sea and bring unseasonal rainfall to northwest India, as per the IMD. These extratropical storms carry moisture as they traverse from the Mediterranean, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, a...