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Thunderstorm warning for 4 States
Why it is in news?
- The Union government issued a fresh warning of thunderstorm and squall in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the next 24 hours.
- A Home Ministry said 124 people were killed and over 300 injured in thunderstorm and lightning that struck five States in the past two days.
- The maximum number of 73 deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, where 91 were also injured.
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said a fresh western disturbance — a system of extra-tropical storms — is expected to bring rain to several parts of north India in the next 24 hours. Dust storms are also expected in Rajasthan and several parts of the northeastern India in the next 48 hours.
‘Intensity increasing’
- This is not an unusual system [of strong thunderstorms in the pre-monsoon period]; but every few years, the intensity of thunderstorms increases.
- In the northeastern and eastern India, such storms are more frequent
- Currently, the forecast systems can warn of severe storms three days in advance, so more squalls and storms in north India could not be ruled out.
- Following the thunderstorm, power supply was cut in many areas as 12,000 electric poles were uprooted and 2,500 transformers damaged.
- Heavy rain is likely at isolated places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Dust storm and thunderstorm are likely at isolated places in Rajasthan.
Working of thunderstorm
- On a hot summer day the surface of the Earth is heated by the sun. The Earth's surface heats the air just above the surface through the process of conduction.
- The action of warm air rising and cold air sinking (convection) plays a key role in the formation of severe thunderstorms. If the warm surface air is forced to rise, it will continue to rise, because it is less dense than the surrounding air. In addition, it will transfer heat from the land surface to upper levels of the atmosphere through the process of convection
- Two of the most important ingredients for thunderstorm formation are instability (unstable air) and moisture.
Source
The Hindu