Jammu Division Gets Deluged : All Time Record Heavy Rainfall At Jammu-Udhampur
Heavy RainFall in Jammu & Kashmir
Monsoon fury crippled life in Jammu & Kashmir. Devastating rains were recorded at Jammu, Udhampur, Doda, Reasi, Katra, Vaishno Devi, Kathua, and many other places. Torrential rains hammered Jammu Division, triggering flash floods that washed away bridges and roads. Landslides on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine claimed many lives and authorities halted pilgrim movement till further orders. Raging rivers have washed away several stretches and decimated three-foot bridges in Doda district. A part of the bridge on the Tawi River in Jammu collapsed due to the forceful flow of water, damaging many houses in that area. Traffic on Jammu-Srinagar and Kishtwar – Doda highways was suspended, while scores of hilly roads lay blocked or washed out. Air operations at Jammu airport were halted, and the torrential rains forced the closure of the airfield for air traffic.
Jammu city recorded extremely heavy rainfall yesterday. The airport observatory registered 380mm of rainfall in 24 hours. This has broken the earlier all time record of 228.6mm established way back on 05 Aug 1926. The city has an average of 353mm rainfall in August and has recorded 952mm, so far, between 01st and 27thAug 2025. In the last 15 years, the city has a record of 702.3mm created in August 2013. The heaviest ever monthly rainfall of 1087.5mm was logged in August 1996 and remains intact, so far.
As brought out yesterday, the heavy to very heavy rainfall was likely due to an interaction between the western disturbance over the mountains and low pressure area over North Rajasthan and Haryana. Even, Udhampur Air Force observatory registered an all time high of 540mm rainfall in 12 hours, yesterday. The quantum of such extreme rainfall events may not be feasible to catch by the numerical models, which can only predict, at best, high impact weather events.
The western disturbance has moved eastward and will clear the region in the next 12 hours or so. However, the monsoon trough stays put along the foothills of Jammu in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Light to moderate rains, with much lesser intensity, will continue for the next 36 hours. Thereafter, another western disturbance as an upper air cyclonic circulation will approach the Jammu region and North Punjab on 29thAugust. This will increase the weather activity, yet again, over the foothills and mid hills of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The intensity is unlikely to be as fierce as before, but still, moderate rainfall with isolated heavy spells are likely between 29thand 31stAugust 2025. All clear conditions are unlikely, even during the first week of September. Monsoon withdrawal commences only around 20thSeptember or later, from the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
