Met predicts more hailstorms in Delhi and north India this week

NEW DELHI: After heavy storms lashed north India last Thursday, turning streets white with hail and causing damage to crops in the region, the Met department has forecast another spell of wet weather and hailstorms this week, particularly on Valentine's Day.
The wet spell is likely to hit the region from Wednesday, with peak activity the following day, and last till Friday, the Met office said.It is likely to bring snow to the higher reaches of western Himalayas and rain in the northern plains right up to western Uttar Pradesh.
"But the intensity and spread of the spell is expected to be less than the storms seen last week, which were unusually heavy and well distributed. While some areas, including Delhi-NCR, could get hailstorms, most places may just receive light rain," said B P Yadav, head of the IMD's regional meteorological centre here.
The fresh forecast comes close on the heels of the damage caused by last week's hailstorms. Experts said places such as Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and the adjoining Dabwali area of Haryana suffered heavy damage to standing mustard crops.
Elsewhere in Haryana, the damage was restricted to four-five districts in the south. “These districts (Bhiwani, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Dadri and parts of Mewat) reported 5% to 10% crop loss. It affected mainly bajra and mustard,” said Suresh Gahlawat, additional director in the state agriculture department.
Yadav said a number of factors made last week’s hailstorm activity unusual — including a confluence of winds coming from opposite directions and jet stream winds in the upper levels, which lead to strong cloud formation.
“The western disturbance was much stronger last time and we had winds from Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea coming, and meeting on top of the northern plains, leading to such a phenomenon. While there is an active western disturbance this time around as well, the other factors are not present this time around,” said Yadav.
There were reports of potato and other vegetables taking a hit in Punjab, where CM Amarinder Singh has ordered a special survey to assess crop losses due to the storm. Most of the wheat crop may have escaped damage because the plants have not yet attained much height. The moisture could, in fact, be beneficial, some experts said.
Temperatures in the region had plummeted by almost eight degrees in some parts of NCR after the hailstorms, and the chill is likely to continue till Monday.
While Delhi’s minimum temperature was recorded at 6° Celsius on Sunday, officials from the regional met department say it could rise to around 13° Celsius as the rain spell approaches. The western disturbance (WD) scheduled to hit the region this week will be the third this month. In January, seven WDs impacted north India, higher than the normal number of four to six, leading to rain and heavy snowfall across the western Himalayas. The high frequency of WDs hitting the region continues.
Meanwhile Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to the “poor” category on Sunday with an overall Air Quality Index of 276 – an increase from Saturday’s reading of 158 (moderate). Agencies say air quality is likely to deteriorate in the next few days before it improves after a spell of rain.
“Air quality in Delhi is in the “poor” category now and the clam night situation and strong surface inversion has led to almost doubling of the pollutant concentration. The air quality can further degrade in the next three days,” said SAFAR’s daily forecast on Sunday.