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Cloudbursts

  • Cloudbursts are short-duration, intense rainfall events over a small area. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it is a weather phenomenon with unexpected precipitation exceeding 100mm/h over a geographical region of approximately 20-30 square km.
  • As temperatures increase the atmosphere can hold more and more moisture and this moisture comes down as a short very intense rainfall for a short duration probably half an hour or one hour resulting in flash floods in the mountainous areas and urban floods in the cities. A 2017 study of cloudbursts in the Indian Himalayas noted that most of the events occurred in the months of July and August.
  • A study published last year studied the meteorological factors behind the cloudburst over the Kedarnath region. They analysed atmospheric pressure, atmospheric temperature, rainfall, cloud water content, cloud fraction, wind speed, wind direction, and relative humidity during the cloudburst, before as well as after the cloudburst.
  • Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of cloudbursts in many cities across the globe.The World Meteorological Organization recently noted that there is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level in at least one of the next five years.
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