Week-Long Weather Activity Over Northern Mountains: Hailstorm Likely
Representational Image: AI-Skymet
Key Takeaways:
- Northern mountains are witnessing a pre-monsoon rainfall deficit of over 90% after a dry February and early March.
- An active Western Disturbance arriving on March 14 will trigger rain, thunderstorms and hailstorms across the Himalayan states.
- Himachal Pradesh will see the most intense activity between March 15 and March 17.
- Uttarakhand may experience strong thunderstorms and isolated hailstorms between March 17 and March 20.
Dry weather conditions have prevailed over the northern mountains so far in the month of March. The large deficiency of February across the region has carried further into the first half of March. The hilly states have a pre-monsoon shortfall of over 90%. Heat wave conditions prevailed in parts of Kashmir Valley and Himachal Pradesh. The jinx of dry weather will get over soon and typical pre-monsoon activity will lash the states across the board.
An active Western Disturbance will arrive by tomorrow. Courtesy the associated cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan, weather activity will start simultaneously over the plains and mountains. The hilly states will have the bigger share, and in that too, the lower and mid-level hills will have widespread weather activity. The westerly systems moving in tandem will keep the weather activity going for nearly one week. Even the break thereafter may not be very long, and a fresh spell could resume, spilling over to the fourth week of March.
The state of Himachal Pradesh, amongst the mountains, is likely to have more weather activity in terms of spread and intensity. The high-level features of the atmosphere support hailstorm at a few places from this weekend to the next weekend. The state of Himachal Pradesh will start with it on 14th March and increase the grade and extent between 15th and 17th March. As the intense activity vacates most parts of the state on 18th March, the state of Uttarakhand will take the turn. The foothills and lower ranges of the hills will have strong thunderstorm activity accompanied with isolated hailstorm between 17th and 20th March 2026. After a short breather of two days on 21st and 22nd March, the activity resumes again over the hills, starting with the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
