Himachal Pradesh weather: IMD forecasts rain, hailstorms across state for next three days
Over the last 24 hours, various parts of Himachal Pradesh have experienced rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and hailstorms. This bout of extreme weather comes after nearly three consecutive days of unstable conditions affecting almost all districts, including rainfall, hail, and snowfall in higher altitudes. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that this wet spell will continue for the next three days.
#Pahalgam Terrorist Attack
Inside Operation Tupac: Pakistan's secret project to burn Kashmir
Who is Asim Munir, the Zia-style general shaping Pakistan's faith-driven military revival
'Looking for partners, not preachers': India's strong message for EU amid LoC tensions
A weather alert has been issued by the IMD for rain, hailstorms, thunderstorms, and lightning across most districts of Himachal Pradesh, with Lahaul-Spiti being the only exception.
"In the last 24 hours, light to moderate rain has been recorded in most parts of Himachal Pradesh. Hailstorms have also been reported from a few areas," said Sandeep Kumar Sharma, Senior Scientist at the Meteorological Centre, Shimla, while speaking to ANI.
He added that Bilaspur received the highest rainfall with 74 mm, followed by Kandaghat in Solan district with 67 mm. Hailstorms were reported in Shimla and Kasauli, and strong winds were recorded at several stations.
Looking ahead, the IMD forecast indicates the possibility of light to moderate rain in the plains and mid-hill regions from May 5 to May 8, while higher reaches are likely to witness snowfall. These weather activities are expected to persist over the next 4 to 5 days.
Live Events
Additionally, night-time thunderstorms and gusty winds are likely between May 5 and May 9, particularly in Chamba, Kangra, Una, Bilaspur, and Hamirpur districts. Isolated hailstorms are expected in Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Solan, Sirmaur, and Kangra. In view of this, alerts have been issued for May 5 and 6.
After May 9, a decrease in weather activity is anticipated. However, light rain may still occur in a few places in the mid-hill districts on May 10 and 11.
In terms of temperature, Una recorded the highest maximum temperature at 35.2 degrees Celsius, while Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti reported the lowest minimum temperature at 4.2 degrees Celsius. Overall, temperatures across Himachal Pradesh have been 2 to 3 degrees Celsius below normal.
In Shimla, the daytime temperature was around 22degrees Celsius, which is 2 degrees below normal. In Solan, the maximum temperature was 30degrees Celsius, which is a significant 10 degrees below normal, while Mandi recorded 27.8degrees Celsius, about 5 degrees below average.
Weather conditions are expected to become active again from this evening, with increased cloud cover and consistently lower-than-average temperatures expected to persist.
According to IMD data, rainfall for the month of May so far has been 22% above normal across the state. However, some districts, including Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti, have received below-average rainfall, while six districts have recorded above-normal rainfall, and the rest are close to average.
The IMD has maintained a hailstorm alert for May 5 and 6 in districts including Shimla, Kangra, and Mandi. Thunderstorms are expected to continue across the state (excluding Lahaul-Spiti) over the next five days, with intermittent clear weather periods. However, light to moderate rainfall will persist in many areas, and gusty winds may occur in some districts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Flood situation remains critical in Assam; Met Dept predicts more rain
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Monday with the water levels rising in many parts of the state, officials said. The India Meteorological Department's Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has said that moderate rainfall is very likely to occur at most places of Assam, while heavy to very heavy rainfall has been predicted at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places. A report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Sunday night said that two more people lost their lives in Cachar and Sribhumi districts, and around four lakh people are reeling under the deluge across 15 districts. The total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides has increased to 10. Cachar is the worst hit with over one lakh people affected, followed by 85,000 people in Sribhumi and 62,000 in Nagaon, it added. The administration has been operating 155 relief camps and relief distribution centres in 12 districts, taking care of 10,272 displaced people at present. The authorities have distributed 1,090.08 quintals of rice, 284.63 quintals of dal, 952.76 quintals of salt and 4,726.26 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims of the State during the last 24 hours. At present, 764 villages are under water and 3,524.38 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said. Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in many districts across the state. At present, the mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Dibrugarh and Nimatighat. Its tributaries Dhansiri at Numaligarh and Kopili at Kampur are flowing above the danger level. The Barak is flowing above the danger mark at Badarpur Ghat, while its tributary Kushiyara at Sribhumi and Katakhal in Matizuri are also flowing above the danger mark, ASDMA said. The situation is likely to worsen for the people living in low-lying and river bank areas due to continued heavy rainfall in the state and neighbouring areas, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cautioned on Sunday evening. Union Home Minister Amit Shah dialled Sarma to take stock of the situation and assured of all possible assistance, as multiple agencies remained engaged in rescue and relief operations. Fourteen stranded people were evacuated by an IAF helicopter from the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. Road, railway and ferry services have been hit in different parts as most parts of the state continued receiving rain over the past few days.
The Hindu
30 minutes ago
- The Hindu
IndiGo flight faces turbulence due to duststorm, lands safely in Delhi
An IndiGo flight from Raipur to Delhi experienced turbulence due to a duststorm, prompting the pilot to climb up again when the aircraft was about to touch down at Delhi airport. Flight 6E 6313 landed safely at Delhi airport after making many circles in the air. The video of the incident also went viral on social media. The pilot announced that the wind speed was upto 80 km/hrs, and he discontinued the approach and climbed back till the weather cleared. Meanwhile, the national capital on Sunday (June 1, 2025) witnessed a spell of rain, accompanied by strong winds over the southern parts of Delhi. The rains are due to an east-southeastward-moving cloud cluster, according to the Meteorological Department. The spell of rain offered a much-needed respite from the heat, as the national capital recorded maximum temperatures of more than 39 C earlier in the morning. According to IMD, Safdarjung area recorded a maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius, Ayanagar 39.5 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 39.4 degrees Celsius and Palam recording 39.1 degrees Celsius. The IMD has issued warnings of thunderstorms, lightning and squall for the next two days, on June 2-3, in the national capital. The IMD has issued warnings on the nowcast for atleast 8 districts, including South, South East, New Delhi, East, Central, Sahadara, North East. The Met Department has said that the winds could reach up to 80 kmph too. Meanwhile, South West, West and North West Districts have been issued an advisory to watch out for light rains, thunderstorms and lightning.
Hindustan Times
32 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Weather Bee: What is the southwest monsoon?
This question became all important on May 26, the day the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared monsoon onset (the monsoon at this time of the year is called the southwest monsoon) over Mumbai. As HT's Mumbai edition reported on May 27, scientists not affiliated with the IMD debated if the monsoon had indeed arrived over the city. Without knowing what the southwest monsoon is, one cannot decide who among the two is right. So who among the IMD and non-IMD scientists is right? They both are in their own way, although it'll perhaps be prudent for the IMD to address the concerns raised by scientists elsewhere. Here is why. The short reason why IMD was not wrong in declaring the arrival of monsoon in Mumbai is that there are no strict criteria for declaring monsoon onset for places other than Kerala. The long reason can be understood by reading IMD's procedure for declaring monsoon onset, which is as follows: 'At present IMD uses a new-criteria adopted in 2016 for declaring the onset of monsoon over Kerala which was based on the daily rainfall of 14 stations over Kerala and neighbouring area along with wind field and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) over southeast Arabian Sea. The new criteria emphasize on the sharp increase in rainfall over Kerala along with setting up of large-scale monsoon flow and extension of westerlies up to 600 hPa. However, IMD declares monsoon onset/progress dates for other regions operationally in a subjective manner considering the sharp increase in rainfall and its characteristic sustenance for a few days and associated changes in the atmospheric circulation features'. The FAQ then goes on to lay down the precise values of the different criteria used for Kerala, which HT explained here. However, no such precise values are laid down for the rest of the country. Therefore, it is not surprising that the IMD declared the arrival of monsoon in Mumbai after the city saw a 'sharp increase in rainfall and its characteristic sustenance for a few days'. To be sure, rain alone would not be enough, as even for regions beyond Kerala, the IMD does look for 'associated changes in the atmospheric circulation features'. One such change it would have looked for is shown in the accompanying map for winds at the height of 850 millibar (or hectopascal) pressure or 1-1.5 km, which are currently blowing from the west (called westerly) over the entire coast of Maharashtra. Why are the scientists disputing the IMD's declaration then? As IMD's procedure copied above suggests, a rainy day or two does not make the monsoon. The sustenance of this rain over a prolonged period – the season is around four-months long although it does not rain every day of the season – depends on things changing in the atmosphere. One such change is the westerly winds shown above, which have origins south of the equator and start off blowing from a south-west direction, giving the season its 'southwest' prefix. The reason scientists disputed the IMD despite this wind being seen at 850 mb is that these winds were not high enough. As the map below shows, at a height of 700 hectopascal (around 2-3 km), the winds even on May 30 are blowing from the north rather than the west on the northern coast of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is. How high then should the westerly winds be for one to know that the monsoon has arrived? Since the atmosphere is not just winds at two levels, relying on this metric alone can also mislead sometimes; but one can answer this question for settling the debate in this particular monsoon. This can be done by looking at the typical monsoon weather and comparing it with what happened in the current monsoon. To do so, HT looked at the average 700 mb wind on July 7 from 1971 to 2020, the period currently considered the Long Period Average (LPA) for tracking monsoon's performance. HT chose July 7 because monsoon onset over Mumbai – as declared by the IMD – varied from May 31 to June 28 from 1971 to 2024. Therefore, July 7 likely puts one in a period when monsoon had likely arrived over Mumbai even if one were using stricter criteria for the city. And as the map for July 7 from earlier years shows, 700 mb winds have been decidedly more westerly over northern Maharashtra coast during the monsoon in the past than they are on May 30. Clearly, westerly winds should develop at least up to the height of 700 mb for the rains to be called monsoon rains at the Maharashtra coast. As the IMD itself suggests that the monsoon is not just rain, perhaps it can lay down more specific criteria for places beyond Kerala in its guidelines for declaring monsoon arrival. This will also help it avoid the kind of situation that has happened this year. While monsoon onset was declared over Mumbai on May 26, there was no rain in Mumbai or Mumbai suburban districts just four days later (on May 30). That is hardly a Mumbai monsoon.
