July 18
The continual weather systems, although feeble in nature, are approaching the Western Himalayas, leading to on and off good rains over Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
In fact, Uttarakhand and parts of Himachal Pradesh received few heavy to very heavy rains that ensued instances of cloudbursts mainly over Uttarakhand.
During the course of 24 hours from 08:30 am on Tuesday, Batote recorded heavy rains to the tune of 43 mm, followed by Manali 28 mm, Pithoragarh 23 mm, Gulmarg 19 mm, Katra 13 mm, Shimla 11 mm, Bhadarwah 9 mm, Mukteshwar 7 mm, Uttarkashi 6 mm, Kupwara 6 mm, Banihal 6 mm, Dharamshala 4 mm, Kalpa 3 mm and Nainital saw 2 mm of light rains.
Now, the Western Disturbance is seen moving away eastwards, nonetheless the easterly winds would still sustain the moisture content. Thus, we can expect scattered rains to continue over the northern hills for at least the next 24 to 48 hours.
After that, the western end of the axis of Monsoon trough is likely to shift towards the North, hence the intensity of rain would increase over many parts of Himachal Pradesh as well as Uttarakhand around July 21. In view of this, we can expect heavy to very heavy rains on July 22 and 23 over the Western Himalayas causing cloud bursts, landslides and flash floods.
Considering this, we highly advise people to abstain from visiting the enthralling hills of North India this weekend.
In fact, we expect light to moderate spells over the Holy Shrine of Vaishno Devi during the next two to three days, so pilgrims are suggested to refrain from going there.
As on July 17, Jammu and Kashmir is rain surplus by 18%, while Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, both remain rain deficit by 5% and 9%, respectively.
(News Source- skymetweather)