Srinagar, Aug 16: Days after a cloudburst wreaked havoc in Kishtwar, a new study has highlighted the alarming toll of extreme weather events in Jammu and Kashmir, documenting 2,863 incidents and 552 deaths in just 12 years.
The 2024 research paper titled ‘Extreme weather events induced mortalities in Jammu and Kashmir, India during 2010-2022’, published in Mausam—the quarterly journal of the India Meteorological Department (IMD)—has found a sharp escalation in hazards such as heavy rainfall, flash floods, thunderstorms, hailstorms, extreme winds and heavy snowfall.
According to the study, lightning was the most frequent hazard with 1,942 incidents, followed by 409 episodes of heavy rainfall and 168 flash floods. But heavy snowfall, though comparatively rare, proved the deadliest per incident.
“During the past 12 years, a total of 2,863 extreme weather events occurred over Jammu and Kashmir in which 552 deaths occurred till December 31, 2022,” the report noted. “Heavy snowfall, although less frequent in number compared to other extreme events, was found to be the most destructive in terms of deaths per incident in the region.”
Only 42 heavy snowfall events—defined as more than 30 cm of snow in a day—were recorded during the period, but they claimed 182 lives, averaging 4.33 deaths per event. In comparison, flash floods killed 119, heavy rains 111, and landslides 71.
District-wise analysis showed that Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla and Ganderbal suffered the highest casualties due to snowfall, while Kishtwar, Anantnag, Ganderbal and Doda topped the list for flash-flood-related deaths.
The findings come at a time when the Himalayan region, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, has been witnessing recurrent cloudbursts and glacial lake outburst floods. Researchers compared recent data with four decades of rainfall records to assess how climate variability is shaping disaster patterns.
The study was jointly conducted by IMD scientists Mukhtar Ahmed, Sonam Lotus, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, Amir Hassan Kichloo and Shivinder Singh, along with Bappa Das, a researcher at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). They used meteorological records from ten IMD stations across Jammu and Kashmir and compiled mortality data from the Meteorological Centre Srinagar.
The report underlines the urgent need for climate adaptation measures in the fragile Himalayan belt, which is increasingly bearing the brunt of extreme weather.
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