With Himalayas getting unusually higher snow in April, SASE extends avalanche warning period

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 6

With several parts of the Himalayas experiencing unusually good snowfall during the month of April, the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) has extended the period during which avalanches can be experienced till mid-May.

“The snowfall over western and central Himalayas as a whole was 98.2 per cent of the long period average during the 2019-20 snow season,” Naresh Kumar, Director of SASE, said. “February is the peak period for snowfall and thereafter it starts decreasing from March to April. However, this year there was relatively higher snow in April due to western disturbances and because of that we are continuing to issue avalanche warnings which we normally do till April,” he added.

Avalanche warnings are issued everyday to the armed forces as well as state governments, identifying the likely areas to experience an avalanche and forecasting the level of danger, so that preventive and cautionary measures can be taken.

SASE is a laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that is enagged in mountain meteorology, avalanche forecasting, artificial triggering and structural control in snowbound areas. SASE has developed its own statistical model for seasonal winter precipitation forecast over western Himalayas.

Based on this model, the precipitation forecast for the winter season of 2019-20 was “good” for western Himalayas, with chances of less snowfall during mid of February to mid of March this year. In November 2019, Himalayas had received unprecedently high snowfall. The area has experienced 10 avalanches during the winters.

Good snowfall in the mountains will have a favourable impact on the availability of fresh water in the summers. Already, the Bhakra Beas Management Board, which manages two major reservoirs on the Sutlej and the Beas in Himachal, is expecting above-high inflows in the summers.

While the snowfall was in excess in the beginning of the winters, it became deficient in mid-winters, particularly in the month of February 2020 which otherwise is known as the month of highest snowfall in western and central Himalayas.

Observations show that Dhundi station near Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh received the highest cumulative snowfall of 1,220 cm while Bahang, the headquarters of SASE near Manali, received the lowest snowfall of 225 cm during the entire winter season.

This year, SASE also initiated a series of training programs for quick reaction teams of various state agencies, including police, home guard and central armed police forces on the management and mitigation of avalanche hazards and carrying out rescue operations. SASE has already been imparting training to Army troops on avalanche safety, rescue and movement in avalanche-prone areas for the past many years.