NEW DELHI: A powerful Western Disturbance (WD) is approaching India’s Northwestern region, poised to unleash heavy snowfall on hills and mountains, along with intense rainfall across plains over the next five days.Concerns mount among experts over potential crop damage in wheat-growing areas, exacerbated by plummeting night temperatures following the passage of the WD system. Last week, WD already brought heavy snowfall in snow-starved mountain peaks and light to moderate unseasonal rainfall accompanied by hailstorms in Central and Eastern India.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an advisory to the state government to stay alert. It has sent an advisory to the governments of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to take preventive measures.As snow blankets mountainous states including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, plains are set to experience accompanying rainfall, marked by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds reaching speeds of 30–40 kmph.In its agro-meteorological advisories, IMD has suggested harvesting matured crops like wheat, jowar and mustard in North Rajasthan as early as possible and keeping the harvested produce in safer places. In addition to it, hail nets or hail caps in fruit orchards protect them from mechanical damage in North Madhya Maharashtra.“Make necessary arrangements for draining out excess water from crop fields to avoid water stagnation in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab,” states IMD’s advisory. It further suggests providing mechanical support to horticultural crops and staking to vegetables in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and North Rajasthan.Currently, the WD lies over Northeast Iran and the neighbourhood to lower to upper tropospheric levels, while moisture from the Arabian Sea is feeding it. It is likely to affect the Western Himalayan Region from February 29 and the plains of Northwest India from March 1–3, with peak intensity on March 2–3.Apart from crop damage, there would be disruptions in electricity, the possibility of landslides, rockfall and mudslides, and disruptions in traffic flow.Besides, another cyclonic circulation lies over northeast Bangladesh and neighbourhoods at lower tropospheric levels. Under its influence, moderate rainfall and snowfall at higher altitudes are likely over Northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the next seven days.In the meantime, hot and humid weather is likely to prevail over Kerala during the next 3 days and over Rayalaseema during the next week.
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