What is in news : At least seven people were killed, 17 injured and over 35 missing after a cloudburst hit a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir.

What is Cloud-Burst :

• Short-duration, intense rainfall events over a small area
• According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it is a weather phenomenon with unexpected precipitation exceeding 100mm/h over a geographical region of approximately 20-30 square km.

Why frequent Cloudburst are seen :

• Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of cloudbursts in many cities across the globe
• World Meteorological Organization noted that there is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level
• As temperatures increase the atmosphere can hold more and more moisture and this moisture comes down as a short very intense rainfall for a short duration probably half an hour or one hour resulting in flash floods in the mountainous areas and urban floods in the cities