Uttarakhand sees record dry spell, AQI soars
December has passed, but not a single drop of rain fell in Uttarakhand. The mountains also longed for snowfall. Dense fog in the plains and dry, cold weather throughout the state have left everything from humans to trees and animals suffering. Rainfall in the state was 98 percent below normal in November as well. On the last day of December, December 31st, the air quality index (AQI) in the capital Dehradun remained above 300 for 12 hours for the first time.
This is the first time since 2016 that such a situation has arisen in the capital Dehradun and other parts of the state, where not a single drop of rain has fallen. In 2016, zero millimeter of rain was recorded in Dehradun and other districts. According to data from the Meteorological Center, the normal rainfall for December in the state is 17.5 mm, but not even one millimeter of rain fell. Dehradun should normally receive 21 mm of rain in December, but the city did not get a drop of rain during this period.
Problems due to the absence of Western Disturbances
According to meteorologists, Western Disturbances become active in the state during December, bringing snowfall to the mountains and rain to the lower regions. This time, the disturbances were very few and also weak.
