Category: Weather

A tough operation to clear landslides in Himachal Pradesh’s high-altitude Spiti Valley began on Tuesday morning to rescue 300 people, including 75 women, by road from the snow-marooned region.

The development came as more rain is predicted in the city for the entire week after three continuous days of torrential downpours, which triggered waterlogging in several areas of the national capital.

Rescue operations by the Indian Army along with the civil administration were underway on Tuesday after continuing throughout the night with a full fledged flood like situation in Punjab's Patiala city.

Incessant rains have triggered flashfloods and landslides across Himachal Pradesh, while Delhi has recorded the highest rains in the last 40 years. Even most of the areas of Punjab have been witnessing flood-like situation in most of districts.

The IMD also issued ‘Yellow’ alert for Monday - the second of four color codes to indicate weather warnings. While green denotes no action required, yellow is to stay alert and informed, orange is for being prepared, and red to take immediate action.

The national capital on Saturday received 126.1 mm rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. -- the highest-ever in a day since 133.4 mm recorded on July 10, 2023, an official said, adding the city had logged an all-time high of 266.2 mm on July 21, 1958.

According to the government agency, most recent projections indicate a continued potential for higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country throughout the 2023 wildland fire season.

The report, ‘Status of urban and rural air quality exposure at a national scale: A comparative analysis’, by Climate Trends revealed that air pollution continues to be a significant problem affecting both rural and urban populations.

The Southwest monsoon, that made its onset over the Kerala coast on June 8, has now covered the entire country, including Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab, the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday.

The National Highway 6 which passes via Meghalaya crossing Shillong from Guwahati connects at least four northeastern states – Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, and Southern Assam with the rest of India.

The weather department on Saturday predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall for Assam during the next five days due to the persistence of moisture intrusion caused by strong low-level southwesterly winds from the Bay of Bengal to Northeast India.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that there are high probabilities for the development of El Nino conditions over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions over the Indian Ocean during July to September 2023.

At least one person was killed, nine others were injured and more than 100 houses destroyed after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia's Yogyakarta province, officials said on Saturday.

The 'Juniper' fire in Riverside County was reported at around 2.30 p.m. in the 19000 block of Santa Rosa Mine Road, according to Alex Izaguirre, a spokesperson for the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

The extreme heat wave that has baked much of the southern US continues to spread to other regions of the country this week, with over 55 million people now under heat alerts.

The authority will have representatives drawn from the departments of Forests, Revenue and Disaster Management, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Public Works, and the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. 

Late on Saturday, two contract workers fell into a manhole while cleaning up a rain-soaked road at Govandi in north-east Mumbai. They are identified as Ram Krishan, 30 and Sudhir Dhas, 35.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that as on Saturday, the southwest monsoon has further advanced into most parts of peninsular and east India and some parts of central and northwest India.

However, Manipur and Mizoram were described as rain deficit by the Met department officials. The other four states in this region -- Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim -- witnessed normal rainfall.

At 35 degrees Celsius, Srinagar recorded the hottest day in June after 5 years as the MeT Department announced that there would be relief from the sweltering heat from Saturday.

IMD added that the southwest monsoon has moved to some parts of Telangana, most parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Odisha, parts of westcentral-northwest Bay of Bengal, more parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

"Lightning at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka," the bulletin read.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicted heavy rainfall over 10 states which include Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

"While some regions are getting ready for flood control, provinces in northern China that have been gripped by the sweltering weather are finding ways to beat the heat," reported CGTN, a state-run foreign-language news channel.

As the world, including India, stares at extreme weather and climate events like agonizing heat waves, deadly cyclone and drought risks owing to monsoon deficit, the ocean-warming phenomenon El Nino is officially here and could last until 2024, scientists have warned.