Why North India Is Witnessing Unusually Heavy Rainfall

Heavy rain continued to batter North India on Monday throwing life out of gear.

Rivers have swelled, low-lying areas are waterlogged, traffic has been disrupted, and houses were inundated due to the bountiful rains in many parts of India.

Interaction of a western disturbance and monsoonal winds led to an intense rainfall spell over northwest India, including Delhi which experienced the season's first heavy rain, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD said a western disturbance prevailed over northern India, while the monsoon trough extended to the south of its normal position, reaching lower tropospheric levels. Additionally, a cyclonic circulation was embedded over southwest Rajasthan.

This interaction between the western disturbance and monsoonal winds is expected to persist for the next 24-36 hours, leading to moderate rainfall in most parts of northwest India, according to an IMD update.

Former secretary, ministry of earth sciences M Rajeevan said that the recent Himachal Pradesh floods remind of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods with similar synoptic conditions.

"Recent Himachal Pradesh floods remind us of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods with similar synoptic conditions. An active monsoon with strong low-level easterlies bringing plenty of moisture, supported by upper-level divergence due to an eastward-moving trough. These are predictable," tweeted M Rajeevan.

"Recent heavy rains and flash floods remind us one of the important impacts of climate change on monsoon " It rains fewer hours, but when it rains, it rains very heavily" Our forewarning systems and mitigation should further improve This can happen anywhere," he added.

"In a changing climate, we see that hilly areas and surroundings - whether it's the Himalayan foothills or the Western Ghats - are particularly susceptible to heavy rains and landslides. Due to global warming, there's extra moisture, and the hills stop this moisture flow and lift it, which comes down as heavy rains. Some of the regions over India where extreme rains have increased are such places where the rains happen due to orographic lifting," Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology to Hindustan Times.

Heavy rains in many parts of India in the first eight days of July have bridged the rainfall deficit for the entire country, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The cumulative rainfall in the monsoon season has reached 243.2 mm, which is 2 per cent above the normal of 239.1 mm.

However, there are large-scale regional variations in rainfall. North India has witnessed 59 per cent excess rainfall (199.7 mm against a normal of 125.5 mm), the latest IMD data showed.

Central India, where a large number of farmers rely on monsoonal rains, has recorded 264.9 mm rainfall against a normal of 255.1 mm, an excess of 4 per cent.

The rainfall deficiency in south India has reduced from 45 per cent to 23 per cent.

At the end of June, the cumulative rainfall for the entire country was 148.6 mm, 10 per cent below the normal precipitation. The deficit stood at 33 per cent on June 22.