The Hindu Business Line : Hail threat to wheat-growing areas

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 9 The churn in weather associated with an incoming western disturbance traced to over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir on Monday has prompted a hailstorm alert in northwest India.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of isolated hailstorm events on Tuesday and Wednesday as the moderately strong westerly system (trough dipping to Nashik-Aurangabad-Chandrapur in Maharashtra) anchors itself.

Interpretation of numerical weather prediction models indicates that another western disturbance with lesser latitudinal depth would affect the western Himalayan region during this weekend.

COMMON FEATURE

Hail is a destructive form of precipitation, and a common occurrence in ‘mid-latitudes’ during early summer where surface temperatures trigger development of thunderstorms even while the upper air is still cool enough to support ice.

The ‘mid-latitude’ regions are the areas between the tropics and the polar regions, approximately 30 deg to 60 deg north or south of the equator. This corresponds to the region north of Ganganagar (Rajasthan), Muktsar (Punjab), Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mussorie and Roorkee (Uttaranchal).

The mid-latitudes are an important region in meteorology, home to weather patterns generally distinct from those in the tropics and the polar region.

Hailstorms usually occur during March but meteorologists like to view the instant case as a one-off event. It is too early to tell if this signals an early summer for the region. Rabi wheat crop needs cooler climes to sustain and prosper.

DAMAGING IMPACT

The damaging impact from a hailstorm is not just from falling hailstones, but also accompanying high winds and torrential rains.

Northern India is a soft target, and has reported more hail-related losses than anywhere else.

The problem with heavy rains is that the soil becomes loose, especially in the case of the late-sown crops.

The crop becomes prone to ‘lodging’ (flattening of plants); more so if there are accompanying high winds.

The IMD said that the minimum temperatures are above normal by 3-5 deg Celsius over parts of Rajasthan and west Madhya Pradesh.

Moisture whipped up by southwesterly winds would cause minimum temperatures to look up by 2-4 deg C over the Indo-Gangetic plains during the next two days.

Isolated rain or thundershowers have been forecast over Punjab, which would spread to more places over the next few days.

Dry weather is indicated for Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh during next 24 hours but rain or thundershowers are likely at a few places, thereafter.

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