Following heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh on 14th August, landslides have occurred in Himachal Pradesh with at least 22 people dead.
What is a cloudburst?
- A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity. While it can also occur in plains, the phenomenon is most common in hilly regions.
- Not all instances of very heavy rainfall, however, are cloudbursts.
- A cloudburst has a very specific definition: Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10 km area is classified as a cloudburst event.
- Cloudbursts are not uncommon events, particularly during the monsoon months. Most of these happen in the Himalayan states where the local topology, wind systems, and temperature gradients between the lower and upper atmosphere facilitate the occurrence of such events.
- Not every event that is described as a cloudburst is actually, by definition, a cloudburst. That is because these events are highly localized. They take place in very small areas which are often devoid of rainfall-measuring instruments.
- The IMD forecasts rainfall events well in advance, but it does not predict the quantum of rainfall. The forecasts can be about light, heavy, or very heavy rainfall, but weather scientists do not have the capability to predict exactly how much rain is likely to fall at any given place.
- The specific cloudburst events cannot be forecast.
