What is the news:

A cloud-burst over Chamba district has damaged the Chamba-Bharmour national highway and triggered landslides in the area.

What is Cloudburst?

It is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time to a small geographical area. Meteorologists say the rain from a cloudburst is usually of the shower type with a fall rate equal to or greater than 100 mm per hour.

How does a cloudburst occur?

Cloudburst is basically a rainstorm and occurs mostly in the desert and mountainous regions, and in interior regions of continental landmasses due to the warm air current from the ground or below the clouds rushes up and carries the falling raindrops up with it. The rain fails to fall down in a steady shower, which causes excessive condensation in the clouds as new drops form and old drops are pushed back into it by the updraft.

How it different from normal rainfall?

Rain is condensed water falling from a cloud while cloudburst is a sudden heavy rainstorm. A cloudburst is different from rain only in the amount of rainfall recorded. Rain over 100mm per hour is categorised as a cloudburst.

Thus, the cloudburst is natural phenomena, but occur quite unexpectedly, very abruptly, and rather drenching. In the Indian Subcontinent, it is generally occurs when a monsoon cloud drifts northwards, from the Bay of Bengal or Arabian Sea across the plains then on to the Himalaya that sometimes brings 75 millimetres rain per hour

About Chamba-Bharmour national highway

It is part of National Highway no. 154 A  which is 167 km long and passes through Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal Pradesh it connects Chakki, Dhar, Banikhet, Chamba and Bharmour

By: Shahid Ali