Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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reasing the impact of weather events
Syllabus: World geography
Western disturbance
Are tropical storms that originate in the Mediterranean region and normally bring winter rainfall to north India.
- However, right from the beginning of this year, the WD have been erratic – too few of them in December and January – several of them incident over north India in the last two months (a time when they normally should not be around).
- Cause: partly due to a warming Arctic that causes the polar jet stream, which carries moisture, to deviate from its regular path and bring the disturbances to north India during the monsoon.
- Consequence: July saw record rainfall in many parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand – Yamuna nearly spilling into the Red Fort in Delhi – multiple floods in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand – A series of landslides has crumbled buildings and blocked highways.
- Issue: warnings by scientists and environmentalists of the perils of wanton construction in the Himalayas must be factored in – ill-thought construction and haphazard building practices have magnified the risk to residents who live in these regions – building project has led to large-scale altering of the mountains
