Damage to orchards in south Kashmir, Budgam; MeT predicts more rains till May 31
SRINAGAR: The heavy downpour on Tuesday afternoon brought relief to the people from the intense heatwave conditions, causing waterlogging in many areas across Srinagar City. However, the weather also brought hailstorms that wreaked havoc in several areas, especially in south Kashmir districts and Budgam.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the heatwave conditions persisted across the valley till this afternoon, following which the heavy downpour was witnessed in Srinagar and many other areas, especially in the southern districts.
The heavy downpour was followed by a hailstorm, leading to waterlogging in many areas across the city, causing difficulties to commuters and pedestrians alike. The hailstorm causes losses to the farmers in south Kashmir.
An Independent Weather Forecaster, Faizan Arif Keng, in a statement, said that considering the satellite data, the formation of clusters of thunderclouds over northern Pakistan, the model forecast, and wind pattern, it was expected that this would not be a short spell of thundershowers. Hence, an eight-hour estimate was shared, he said.
“As such, multiple spells have already occurred, and intensity has varied from area to area. Now, the strong cloud backup persists, and the cloud movement indicates that these thundershowers will affect many parts of Kulgam, Anantnag, Shopian and Jammu region parts till midnight,” Keng said, adding that the gradual improvement in the weather will start from north Kashmir first, and then will be seen over central Kashmir parts.
The temperatures, however, rose at multiple places compared to yesterday. In Srinagar, the mercury settled at 32.2 degrees Celsius while Qazigund, a gateway of Kashmir, recorded a maximum temperature of 31.3 degrees Celsius.
Pahalgam recorded a day temperature of 24.0 degrees Celsius while Kokernag, Kupwara and Gulmarg recorded a maximum temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius, 30.7 degrees Celsius and 22.0 degrees Celsius respectively.
In Jammu city, the mercury settled at 38.4 degrees Celsius, while other parts, except Katra, recorded below 30 degrees Celsius.
Director Meteorological department (MeT), Dr Mukhtar Ahmad told KNO that there is a possibility of the spell of rain and thundershower at scattered to many places, accompanied with intense showers and gusty winds at few places till May 31st.
He added that from June 01 to 03, a brief spell of light rain and thundershower is expected at isolated places.
Meanwhile, in its advisory, the MeT has predicted the possibility of thunder and gusty winds at scattered to many places till May 31.