After a month's dry spell, forecast of rain, snowfall in mid, high hills today

Finally, the prolonged dry spell can end soon. After the rainless October — the month saw minus 97 per cent deficient rainfall – and 100 per cent deficiency in the first 10 days of the current month, there’s a possibility of rain and snow at isolated places in the mid and high hills of the state tomorrow. Also, as per the forecast, very dense fog is likely over many parts of the reservoir area of Bhakra dam and over many parts of Balh valley during late night hours.

However, as per the department, the next few days after tomorrow are again likely to be dry, which will be a cause of concern for the farmers and horticulturalists. Already, the dry spell has delayed the sowing of Rabi crops, mainly cereals like wheat, barley and gram, across the state. The sowing season for these cereals begins from October 15 onwards, but lack of rains for more than a month now has forced the farmers to delay the sowing. Until a few days back, just about 10 per cent sowing of wheat had been done.

As per the experts, the time for the early-sown variety of wheat is running out in the absence of rains. It is sown from October 15 to November 15. In case there’s not enough moisture in the land by November 15, the farmers have to shift mid and late-sown varieties. “The delayed sowing could have some impact on the overall yield. With delayed sowing, the growing period gets shorter and the overall production is affected,” said an agriculture official.

Unlike cereals, there’s not much impact yet on vegetable grown at this time. As per the agriculture officials, vegetables are cultivated mostly where the farmers have water for irrigation. Nevertheless, the farmers who have sown garlic are facing some problems as the germination of garlic has been affected by the lack of moisture in the soil.