Unseasonal rains swept over parts of north and west India on Sunday, causing a pleasant drop in temperatures and delaying the onset of the summer heat. The unusual weather is the result of a western disturbance ‒ an extratropical storm with its origins in the Mediterranean ‒ which currently lies over north Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Met Department.

Rajasthan, western Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh experienced heavy rains while some parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh even saw hail. Mumbai and Delhi have both seen rains over the past weekend while Nagpur experienced a damaging hailstorm on Sunday evening.

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted more rain over the next 24 hours in these areas and also put out a warning for isolated hailstorms in parts of Bihar and Jharkhand.










Crops hit

Rain induced by western disturbances usually occurs during the winter and the late precipitation this close to the rabi harvest has caused widespread crop damage.

Thousands of acres of wheat across states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have been destroyed.In Maharashtra, the onion crop has also been hit hard, both by the rain as well as hailstorms. Around Agra in Uttar Pradesh, the potato crop had been damaged.


The destruction in standing crops has resulted in vegetable prices rising in North Indian cities. In Delhi, The Hindustan Times reports that tomatoes, carrots and cauliflowers are selling Rs 10-15 more than last week and beans saw a hike of Rs 30 per kg during the same period.

This trend is expected to get accentuated in the coming weeks as the impact of the crop destroyed causes shortages.

Vegetable prices have already seen a sharp spike in the first week of March, again caused by unseasonal rain.