Jammu and Kashmir is expected to experience a heat wave in April, and there are no predictions for significant precipitation for a while.
According to Sonam Lotus, the Director of the Meteorological Department, the maximum temperatures in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have already started to increase and are currently 5 degrees Celsius above normal.
Lotus stated that there has been a severe shortage of strong Western Disturbances this year, particularly during the winter season.
He said that clear skies were adding to the rise in maximum as well as minimum temperatures in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Lotus said that a heat wave was set to hit parts of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh in April.
“There is a transition from winter to summer and the coming days will be hotter,” he said. “J&K and Ladakh are recording temperatures 5 degrees above normal. Not only J&K and Ladakh, the heat wave will hit the entire north India.”
Lotus said that there was no forecast of any heavy spell of precipitation in March.
“On March 13 and 14 there could be light rains,” he said.
Lotus said that there could be a water crisis for irrigation land this year as there had been deficient precipitation during the past two months in J&K.
“But it is premature to say,” he said. “As a result of the absence of any strong Western Disturbance and stable atmosphere, weather remained fair and mainly clear on most occasions which led to early onset of spring and above normal temperatures compared to the last few years.”
The mean temperature in Jammu city in March 2022 was 23.3 degrees Celsius and 13.7 degrees Celsius in Srinagar, which is quite high.
However, these high temperatures are not unusual as the mean temperature even touched 24 degrees Celsius in Jammu in 2004 and 2010 and in Srinagar the mean temperatures touched 13.6 and 13.7 degrees Celsius in 2004 and 2010.
In 2020, J&K recorded 979.1 mm of rainfall against an average rainfall of 1258.7 mm.
There was a deficit of 22 percent.
In 2021, the deficiency reached 29 percent when the union territory recorded just about 894.4 mm of rainfall.
It was the lowest rainfall since 2010.
The months from January to May are ones in which heavy snowfall is recorded in higher reaches which is essential for the formation of glaciers.
In the first five months of 2022, J&K recorded a rain deficiency of 38 percent.
Against a normal rainfall of 559.2 mm, J&K received only 345.4 mm of rainfall between January 1 and May 31.
In comparison, 34 percent deficiency was witnessed in 2020 and 11.5 percent in 2021 for the same time period.
Between June and September 2020, 34 percent deficient rainfall was recorded in J&K and 29 percent in 2021.
In fact, from March to May 2022, J&K received only 99.5 mm of rainfall, which is the lowest spring rainfall since 2005.
