At 215.4 mm, Udhampur in Jammu receives 2 months’ rainfall in 24 hours

Similarly, Batote region of Jammu, too, broke existing rainfall records during the ongoing spell of rain across northwest India which began early Friday. The Jammu region had last experienced such severe weather during February 2003, the IMD rainfall data suggested.

On Friday, Batote recorded 163.7 mm, breaking the all-time February rainfall record of 161.6 mm (February 19, 2003). Similarly, Katra (118.6mm), Banihal(100.4mm) and Jammu (77.4mm) also recorded the highest decadal rainfall since 2015, IMD said.

This winter season has been largely been dry over Jammu and Kashmir and large parts of north and northwest India, with rainfall and snowfall remaining practically nil for most days during the past two months. The rainfall deficiencies in these two regions are particularly high this year, ranging from 40 – 85 per cent.

“There is an active stream of western disturbance affecting north and northwest India regions. In addition, there is severe moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea, making it favourable for heavy rainfall, thunder and lightning. The weather will improve from Saturday onwards,” said an official from IMD, New Delhi.

Heavy rainfall also lashed parts of Punjab along with heavy snowfall reported in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Ladakh. Palampur (99.2 mm), Pathankot-Shahpur Kandi (77 mm), Mussoorie (78 mm) were among the other regions affected on Friday.

This winter, the north and northwest India have largely experienced a dry season. During January 1 – February 27, northwest India received 27.3 mm of precipitation, which was 64.4 per cent below normal. Weak western disturbances and absence of moisture led to such dry conditions, said D S Pai, senior meteorologist, IMD.

In February, there were seven streams of western disturbances. “But except one stream, that was realised during February 24-28, all other systems were feeble and passed in quick succession, therefore did not cause much rainfall or snowfall over north and northwest India. There was no cold wave or fog during February over north or northwest India regions during February,” added Pai.

The rainfall over Jammu and Kashmir for January – February 27 ended at 85.2 mm against a normal of 220.2 mm, putting the Union territory in the ‘large’ rainfall deficit category for the winter season. The region’s rainfall was 61 per cent short of normal during this season.