Uttarakhand Receive Fresh Snowfall | 02 Feb 2024

Recently, Uttarakhand received its first snowfall of the season along with Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier predicted heavy rain and snowfall in the mountainous regions of the three states in the coming days due to a western disturbance.

It was established in 1875. It is the National Meteorological Service of the country and the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology and allied subjects.
- It works as an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India.
It is headquartered in New Delhi.
IMD is also one of the six Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres of the World Meteorological Organization.

Western disturbances are storms that originate in the Caspian or Mediterranean Sea, and bring non-monsoonal rainfall to northwest India, according to the IMD.
They are labelled as an extra-tropical storm originating in the Mediterranean, is an area of low pressure that brings sudden showers, snow and fog in northwest India.
The meaning of WD lies in its name.
- The disturbance travels from the “western” to the eastern direction.
- These travel eastwards on high-altitude westerly jet streams - massive ribbons of fast winds traversing the earth from west to east.
Disturbance means an area of “disturbed” or reduced air pressure.
- Equilibrium exists in nature due to which the air in a region tries to normalise its pressure.
In the term “extra-tropical storm”, storm refers to low pressure. “Extra-tropical" means outside the tropics. As the WD originates outside the tropical region, the word “extra-tropical” has been associated with them.