The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a weather alert for various parts of the country, predicting heavy rain, hailstorms, and dense fog in the coming days. According to the IMD, a cyclonic circulation over the Southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Maldives area will bring light to moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms and lightning over Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, and Lakshadweep during the next four to five days. Some places in these regions may also witness isolated heavy rainfall today.
Western disturbances will bring snowfall or rain to northern India
The IMD also said that two fresh, feeble Western disturbances will affect the Western Himalayan Region during the upcoming days, causing isolated snowfall or rain over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The Western Disturbances are troughs of low pressure that originate from the Mediterranean Sea and bring moisture-laden winds to the northwestern parts of India.
Dense fog in these regions
Another weather phenomenon that may affect visibility and air quality in some parts of the country is dense fog. The IMD said that dense fog is very likely in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, East Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar starting today. Similarly, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura may witness dense fog from today onwards. The fog may reduce the visibility to less than 200 meters in some places, affecting road, rail, and air traffic.
The IMD also forecast a gradual fall in the minimum temperatures by about 2 to 4 degrees Celsius over Northwest, Central, and East India during the next three days, followed by no significant change thereafter. The minimum temperatures are expected to remain below normal in these regions, leading to cold wave conditions in some places.