Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: In a series of devastating lightning strikes, at least 60 people have lost their lives across parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, according to the State Relief Commissioner’s office on Thursday.
The tragic incidents saw 43 individuals killed in 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday. Concurrently, Bihar reported around 20 fatalities and 40 injuries due to lightning strikes during this period.
Meteorologists have highlighted the unusual nature of such severe lightning during the monsoon season. Typically, these incidents are more common during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. Mahesh Palawat, Vice President of Climate and Meteorology at Skymet Weather, explained, “These areas were dry and hot before. It appears that there was a lot of ground heating and then as the monsoon trough started shifting northward, moisture incursion caused a sudden development of a lot of convective clouds and multiple lightning incidents.”
Palawat further noted that this scale of lightning activity is atypical for the monsoon season, stating, “We see such large-scale lightning during pre-monsoon months or when the monsoon is withdrawing.”
Col (retd) Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, convener of the Lightning Resilient Campaign India, attributed the surge in lightning occurrences to abrupt weather changes that enhanced the uplifting of air. He pointed out that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecasted these conditions in advance, warning about the potential for cloud-to-ground lightning over central and northeast India.
Srivastava referred to data from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which recorded approximately 75,000 lightning strikes across India on Thursday. The IMD’s ground observations reported around 240,000 lightning strikes on the same day, encompassing India and its regional areas, including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
Amidst these incidents, the IMD has issued a warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall over southwest Peninsular India and heavy rainfall over northeast and adjoining east India in the next five days.
This alarming increase in lightning strikes during the monsoon season underscores the importance of being vigilant and prepared for sudden weather changes, which continue to pose significant risks to life and property.
