In India’s Himalayan area, calamities are frequently brought on by torrential rainfall and uncontrolled building.
But the terrain is becoming even more hazardous due to an extraordinary spike of rainfall.
This month’s land slides and flash floods have already claimed the lives of people there while burying homes and structures. Pakistan and Nepal have also sustained damage in some areas.
According to a recent study, the Himalayas and other mountains across the world are now experiencing more rainfall at heights where it used to predominantly snow.
According to scientists, the change has made the mountains more hazardous because higher temperatures not only bring rain but also hasten the melting of snow and ice.
In addition to loosening the earth, precipitation also causes rockfalls, debris flows, floods, and landslides.
The research was reported in a June issue of the journal Nature.
“Our findings provide several lines of evidence demonstrating a warming-induced amplification of rainfall extremes at high altitudes, specifically in snow-dominated regions of the Northern Hemisphere,” the study’s authors write.
The results are in line with an IPCC special study from 2019 that stated that increasing temperatures, especially at lower elevations of mountain regions, were at least partially to blame for a drop in snowfall.
The Himalayan risks are not being monitored
According to Samuel Morin, executive director of the National Centre for Meteorological Research in France and one of the authors of the special IPCC report, there are more examples of extreme precipitation events happening presently, including rainfall even at a high elevation and throughout the year.
Due to their high vulnerability to heavy rainfall events and associated risks of flooding, landslides, and soil erosion, these [mountain] locations are designated as hotspots, according to the study.
According to Mohamed Ombadi, the study’s primary author, this risk is greater for the Himalayan region compared to other mountainous areas like the Alps and the Rockies in the northern hemisphere.
This is due to extra warming-related mechanisms [in the Himalayas] that alter wind patterns and storm trajectories, increasing storm severity.
The Himalayas, which include parts of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan, have few meteorological stations, which frequently results in a lack of precise information on precipitation amounts.
There are a few stations scattered throughout the lower mountain ranges, but they are not equipped to distinguish between snowfall and rain.
However, a meteorological station set up at Mount Everest’s base camp revealed that rain made up 75% of the 245.5mm of precipitation that the mountain received between 1 June and 10 August of this year. What was left was snow or a mix of rain and snow.
The amount of rain that was reported between June and September in 2022 was 32%, 43%, and 41%, respectively.
“We believe the dominance of rain vs. snow is a relatively recent phenomenon, but we do not have longer term data to fully quantify that,” said National Geographic explorers Baker Perry and Tom Matthews, who were a part of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expeditions that installed the station.
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According to Bikram Singh, director of the local weather office, the changes in precipitation are visible on the mountains of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
“We can categorically state that the frequency of snowfall has decreased, and this typically occurs at elevations below 6,000m. The lower elevations see considerable rainfall during the monsoon.
According to Professor JS Rawat a former chair of the geography department at Kumaun University, the region’s rivers now have a different character because of the declining snowpack and increased rainfall.
After heavy rains, there have been numerous flash floods, and rivers that were formerly glacier-fed in the area are now rain-fed.
The problem has been made worse by rising temperatures, which have sped up the melting of Himalayan glaciers. As a result, glacial lakes quickly fill up and are more likely to overflow and cause floods. Mountain slopes become unstable due to the melting of glaciers.
According to various studies the Himalayas are predicted to experience a significant increase in rainfall due to their anticipated three times faster rate of warming than the global average.
Locals in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand claim to have witnessed a rise in the frequency and severity of landslides and floods during the monsoon season.
As a result of excessive rainfall on the slopes, Prabhakar Bhatta, 25, a resident of Mayapur village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, claims that his community of Ganai was already in danger of landslides.
As a result, he and his family were forced to leave their home and relocate. But we are now homeless even here.
A “hanging” glacier fell off, causing a deluge across India.
Before midnight on August 14, a massive flash flood struck Mr. Bhatta’s two-story home, burying it under mud, silt, and rock fragments.
People in communities at higher altitudes informed us that it was raining heavily and that a flash flood might be headed our way, which is how we were able to survive, he claims.
According to Mr. Bhatta, his family stayed up that night and left when they heard “odd sounds”.
“My father built the house with his lifetime savings, and now that too is gone,” the man claims. This area is getting too dangerous to live in.
According to experts these catastrophes are also caused by the rash expansion of infrastructure including as roads, tunnels and hydropower projects in ecologically vulnerable areas. They are susceptible to earthquakes since they are in the same seismic zone as the Himalayas, which makes the situation worse.
Increased rainfall is also being felt on the Indian side of the border.
Debris flows and flash floods are becoming more frequent in northern Pakistan, where the Himalayas meet the Karakoram and Hindukush mountains, according to officials.
According to Kamal Qamar, director general of the regional disaster management organization, during the most recent monsoon there were 120 flash floods in the Gilgit Baltistan part of the region, a significant increase from 10 to 20 years ago.
“It’s raining in high altitudes at around 4,000m both in summer and winter, when it should have snowed,” he claims.Does China’s and India’s race to build harm the Himalayas?
Flash floods and debris flows in Nepal’s eastern Himalayas are damaging small villages, highways, and bridges in addition to critical infrastructure like hydropower and drinking water plants.
The Independent Power Producers Association of the nation reports that 30 hydropower units in eastern Nepal have been damaged this monsoon.
According to experts, cascading occurrences on the slopes in the Himalayan regions are increasing in frequency and intensity.
According to Jakob Steiner, a researcher at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, that is when an occurrence causes something else to occur further downstream.
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Changing Weather Patterns in the Himalayas: Rising Rainfall and Increased Hazards
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Mountains at Risk: Impact of Rainfall Extremes and Melting Glaciers
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Scientific Insights: Study Reveals Warming-Induced Amplification of Rainfall Extremes
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Global Trends: Himalayas and Other Mountains Experience Shift from Snow to Rain
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Local Impacts: Flash Floods, Landslides, and Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
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Climate-Induced Disasters: Himalayan Region Faces Growing Catastrophic Risks
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Himalayan Challenges: Deteriorating Snowpack, Changing River Dynamics, and Glacial Melting
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Human Displacement: Communities Forced to Relocate Due to Increasing Hazards
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Environmental Concerns: Impact of Infrastructure Expansion and Seismic Vulnerability
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Cross-Border Effects: Rising Rainfall Affects Pakistan and Nepal in Similar Ways
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