What is a cloudburst?
The recent flash flood caused by a cloudburst in the lower Amarnath area has led to death and destruction. A cloudburst according to the expert is a common weather phenomenon in mountain regions of India. A cloudburst is characterized as a quick, intense downpour that lasts only a short time and covers a relatively small area, hailstorms and thunderstorms may accompany cloudbursts.
A lecturer by IMD on its website stated that, “It is very difficult to predict cloud bursts due to the very small scale in space and time”. Unlike daily weather forecasts to resolve the scale of cloudbursts, they require either a very high-resolution weather forecasting model or a dense radar network across areas that are prone to cloudbursts.
Why are cloudbursts difficult to predict?
Cloudburst is a sneaky and erratic meteorological occurrence. Local weather occurrences are known to cause flash floods that can sweep out major human populations as water moves downstream. These phenomena happen to occur in the upper level and are largely undistributed, so this creates a barrier to access to make a prediction.
Effects and consequences
Flash floods may result from a cloudburst, which can have disastrous effects. Trees may be uprooted by these floods, and stones and other debris may shift. As it descends, the water builds up force and momentum and has the potential to destroy nearby structures. In hilly places, cloudburst can also result in landslides, while in plains, it might result in sudden flooding.
Some instances of cloudbursts that have previously occurred in India
Cloudbursts are more prone to occur in mountain regions like Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir because of the orography in the mountainous region.
Here are some instances of cloudbursts that have previously occurred in India:
Cloudburst was first recognized as significant extreme weather that occurred when the flash floods hit portions of Ladakh in August 2010. The overnight rain and a cloudburst led to floods that killed more than 250 people and impacted 9,000 more.
In the year 2010 itself, another cloud burst in Uttarakhand and submerged two villages.
This was one of the most extreme weather events in India, in the Uttarakhand districts of Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, and Tehri, several cloudbursts and torrential rains caused havoc in the year 2013. Over 6,000 people were killed in the Kedarnath floods, and many more are still missing.
In August 2015 the Dharampur area of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh observed a severe flood caused by a sudden cloudburst.
In the districts of Chamoli and Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, severe rains created cloudbursts that claimed the lives of 30 people in the year 2016.
Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district observed a cloudburst in the year 2021, where more than 40 people went missing and five people were killed.
And now in 2022, the unfortunate event of a flash flood triggered by the cloudburst in the lower part of Amarnath killed 16 people and the rescue operation is still in progress.
Cloudbursts are not the same as heavy rainfall
Cloudbursts are not the same as heavy rainfall rather cloudbursts are natural phenomena but their occurrence and unpredictability make them a threat to humankind and nature unlike what we call heavy rainfall. It typically happens in the Indian Subcontinent when a monsoon cloud moves northward from the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea across the plains and then up to the Himalayas, sometimes bringing 75 millimeters of rain every hour.
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