Lok Sabha Question No. 3584 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-12-07
Subject: Abnormal Weather
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: REKHA ARUN VERMA, ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3584

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2016

## ABNORMAL WEATHER

## 3584.SHRIMATI REKHA VERMA:

## SHRI ARVIND SAWANT:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the weather pattern prevailing in the country in the recent years is abnormal;
- (b) if  so, whether the variations of the weather phenomena and development of  abnormal  weather  pattern  like  drought,  flood,  cyclone,  heat  and  cold waves, etc. are being monitored on a continuous basis;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  areas  most  affected  by  such conditions and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether  any  action  plan  has  been  chalked  out  to  tackle  this  adverse impact of abnormal weather condition; and
- (e)
- if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(Shri Y. S. Chowdary)

- (a) No  Madam.  The  weather  pattern  prevailing  in  the  country  is  normal. However  some  anomalous  weather  patterns  such  as  drought,  flood, cyclone, heat and cold waves etc do occur from time to time.
- (b)
- Yes Madam.
- (c) The  Government  is  monitoring  the  variability  of  the  weather  phenomena and  development  of  abnormal  weather  pattern  like  drought,  flood,  flash flood, cyclone, rain induced  landslides, heat cold wave,  etc. on a continuous  basis.  Heavy  rain  events  (>10  cm/day)  over  central  India  are found to have increased in the recent decades while weak and moderate events are decreasing. The extreme rain events which are becoming more intense  in  recent  years  are  localized  and  could  be  part  of  the  natural variability of the monsoon system.

Heat -waves typically occur between March to June. Heat waves are more frequent over the Indo-Gangetic plains of India.

Northern  and  eastern  states such  as  Rajasthan,  Punjab,  Haryana,  New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tripura are affected by the Cold Wave.

Indian  sub-continent  having  a  coast  line  of  7516  kms  is  affected  by  the Tropical  Cyclones.  There  are  13  coastal  states/UTs  encompassing  84 coastal  districts  which  are  affected  by  cyclones.  Four  States  (Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) and one UT (Pondicherry) on  the  East  Coast  and  One  State  (Gujarat)  on  the  West  Coast  are  more vulnerable to Tropical Cyclones and associated storm surge.

The  states  falling  within  the  periphery  of  "India  Flood  Prone  Areas" are West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Bihar, Gujrat, Uttar  Pradesh, Haryana and  Punjab.  The  intense  rains  during  the monsoon season causes rivers like Brahmaputra, Ganga, Yamuna etc. to swell their banks, which in turn floods the adjacent areas.

- (d) Yes Madam.
- (e) IMD  is  responsible  for  monitoring,  detection  and  forecasting  of  weather including      severe      weather  events  such  as  cyclones,  heavy  rainfall, extreme temperature etc. It provides forecast of these events at national, regional and state levels through its three tier structure.

For  effective  operational  cyclone  activities,  an  appropriate  institutional mechanism  comprising  cyclone  warning  division  at  India  Meteorological Department  (IMD),  New  Delhi  and  three  Area  Cyclone  Warning  Centers (ACWCs)  at  Kolkata,  Chennai,  Mumbai  and  Cyclone  Warning  Centers (CWCs) at Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapatnam and Ahmadabad are functional on 24X7 basis.

In  order  to  meet  specific  requirements  of  flood  forecasting,  which  is provided by Central Water  Commission (CWC), India Meteorological Department (IMD) operates Flood Meteorological Offices (FMOs) at thirteen locations viz., Agra, Ahmedabad,  Asansol, Bhubaneshwar,  Guwahati, Hyderabad,  Jalpaiguri,  Lucknow,  New  Delhi,  Patna,  Srinagar,  Bangaluru and Chennai. Apart from this, IMD also supports Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) by providing QPF for Damodar river basin areas for their flood forecasting activities. During the flood season, FMOs  provide valuable meteorological support to the CWC for issuing flood warnings in respect of the 43 rivers of India covering 146 river basins. CWC is working in  close  association  with  IMD  and  State  Governments  for  timely  flood forecast whenever the river water level rises above warning level.

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