Dust storm hits Delhi-NCR; strong dust raising winds expected to continue for the next 48 hours
Pre-monsoon season in North West India is often associated with dust storms which lead to a drop in visibility and increased air pollution. These storms also kill people and leave a trail of destruction.
Dust storm in Delhi (filed pic). Source: Twitter @DDNewslive
A major dust storm has enveloped Delhi-NCR reducing visibility, which is also expected to hit air quality in the region. Strong winds from Rajasthan carrying dust from the Thar desert are behind this storm.
Such weather events — dust storms and thunder storms — are common during the pre-monsoon season (March 1 to May 31) when high summer temperature heats up land leading to creation of low pressure. This results in winds blowing from high pressure to low pressure areas.
Delhi-NCR has been facing a severe heatwave. Yesterday, on Holi, Delhi registered a temperature of 40.1 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest day in March in the past 76 years, informed the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Earlier this month on March 1, IMD in its ‘Seasonal Outlook for Temperatures during March to May 2021’ noted: “During the upcoming hot weather season (March to May), above normal seasonal maximum temperatures are likely over most of the subdivisions of north, northwest and northeast India…”
Also Read: More than four people died every day in India in 2020 due to extreme weather events: IMD report
According to Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, strong dust raising winds from west and north west direction are expected to continue over Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar for the next two to three days. Winds are expected to subside by April 2 evening.
“What hit the NCR-Delhi today is not a dust storm but strong dust raising winds. These winds will continue to blow for the next two days. There will be no rain activity,” Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather told Gaon Connection.
Dust storms and thunderstorms often hit North West India during the pre-monsoon season. A thunderstorm, mostly a short-duration phenomenon that seldom lasts over two hours, is always accompanied by thunder and lightning, usually with strong gusts of wind, heavy rain.
In 2018, dust storm and thunderstorm killed at least 124 people in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi within a period of one month. IMD’s ‘Statement on Climate of India during 2020’, issued on January 4 this year, said that more than four people die every day in India due to extreme weather incidents, including thunderstorms and lightning.