Week 10: Extreme Weather


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The Southern Indian state of India Andhra Pradesh recorded 37,749 lighting strikes in just 13 hour period on April 24 2023.

South India is known as Peninsular India, it is the southern part of the Deccan Plateau in India. 

The areas of highest activity of thunderstorms exceeding 120 days in the year are seen over Assam, Sub Himalayan West Bengal and windward side of Pir Panjal range in Jammu and Kashmir. South India consists of the five southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh typically receives about 47.54 millimeters (1.87 inches) of precipitation and has 93.17 rainy days (25.53% of the time) annually. Average annual precipitation.

Extreme weather events in India this year 2023

Hailstorms, which affected people across 33 states/UTs, remained the most frequently occurring extreme event during the period. During the same period last year, hailstorms (classified as ‘lightning’ and ‘storms’ by the India Meteorological Department (IMD)) had affected 22 states/UTs in India. Global warming, weak western disturbances and a strong subtropical jet stream are to be blamed for the unseasonal rains and hailstorms, experts told Down to Earth. “Scary statistics foretell how our natural world is transforming because of climate change. In 2023, in the first four months, 70 per cent of the days have already seen extreme weather events,” stated Sunita Narain, Editor, DTE and Director General, CSE, in her foreword to the State of India’s Environment in Figures, 2023.


Extreme weather events in India last year 2022


Loss and Damage of Human life and Property


Loss and damage

Between January and April 2023, extreme weather events claimed 233 human lives, in comparison to 86 human lives during the same period in 2022. This is a 170 per cent increase in the number of human deaths due to extreme events as compared to last year.  

At least 0.95 million hectares (mha) of cropland was damaged between January and April, 2023, due to extreme weather events. This is at least 31 times the 0.03 mha of cropland affected in 2022 or over 3,000 per cent of the cropped area damaged last year.

These estimates on loss and damage are based on media reports that cited state and national-level estimates and the information made available by IMD in the public domain. The central and state governments, including Uttar Pradesh, had acknowledged the loss to crops especially wheat and relaxed procurement norms to help farmers in April 2023.


A Protocol for Early Warning Dissemination on Thunderstorm and Lightning.

July 2021 National Disaster Management Authority Government of India. This is a 12 page document of protocols that are designed to alert the public of India when severe weather approaches in their domain.  


Recommendations
When your visiting India and your caught in one of these storms 
1. Listen to weather forecast in your area TV, Radio, Visual Sightings.
2. Stay in doors when heavy down pours and especially thunder starts to happen.
3. No if there are emergency shelters in place and were they are located.
4. If caught outdoors stay away from structures that may attract electrical contact with lighting.

Safety precautions outdoors

You can protect yourself from risk even if you are caught outdoors when lightning is close by.

  • If the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms, postpone your trip or activity.
  • Remember: When thunder roars, go indoors. Find a safe, enclosed shelter. Safe shelters include homes, offices, shopping centers, and hard-top vehicles with the windows rolled up.
  • If you are caught in an open area, act quickly to find adequate shelter. The most important action is to remove yourself from danger. Crouching or getting low to the ground can reduce your chances of being struck but does not remove you from danger. If you are caught outside with no safe shelter nearby, the following actions may reduce your risk:
    • Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges, or peaks.
    • Never lie flat on the ground. Crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears so that you are down low with minimal contact with the ground.
    • Never shelter under an isolated tree.
    • Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter.
    • Immediately get out of and away from ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water.
    • Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (such as barbed wire fences, power lines, or windmills).
  • If you are in a group during a thunderstorm, separate from each other. This will reduce the number of injuries if lightning strikes the ground.
  • If you are out in the open water and a storm rolls in, return to shore immediately.
  • Avoid open vehicles such as convertibles, motorcycles, and golf carts.
  • Avoid open structures such as porches, gazebos, baseball dugouts, and sports arenas. These structures won’t protect you from lightning.
  • Stay away from open spaces such as golf courses, parks, playgrounds, ponds, lakes, swimming pools, and beaches. Seek shelter immediately.
  • Stay away from tall structures, such as telephone poles and trees; lightning tends to strike the tallest object around.   

References / Sources  

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43905726#

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/IN-AP.svg/1280px- IN-AP.svg.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/state-of-india-s-environment-in-figures-the-first-4-months-of-2023-

https://www.cseindia.org/climate-india-2022-

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2022-

https://get.earthnetworks.com/hubfs/India_

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/lightning-safety/index.html#:~:text=Remember%3A%20When%20thunder%20roars%2C%20go,quickly%20to%20find%20adequate%20shelter.

A hailstorm in Delhi in March 2023. Photo for representation from I Stock








Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2023 at 6:38 PM

    I found the information where during the months of January and April of this year, the numbers of lives taken from extreme weather have nearly, dare i say, doubled since last year to be interesting. And another thing, people hardly mention this, but not only do extreme weather affect homes but also crops. Apparently 0.95 million hectares were damaged this year in India, and it may not look like a lot but it does have an impact. All in all, what an informative blog post!

    ReplyDelete

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