{"id":42095,"date":"2025-04-26T19:11:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=42095"},"modified":"2025-04-26T19:11:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:41:31","slug":"lightning-deaths-march-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/lightning-deaths-march-april-2025","title":{"rendered":"Over 160 Killed by Lightning in March-April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Geography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Around 162 people were killed by lightning strikes across 12 Indian states between March 2025 and mid-April 2025.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bihar recorded<\/strong> 99 deaths (61% of the national total), followed by Uttar Pradesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Lightning?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lightning is an <strong>electrical discharge between charged particles<\/strong> in a cloud and the ground.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Although air normally acts as an electrical insulator, when the voltage reaches about <strong>3 million volts per meter (V\/m)<\/strong>, the air&#8217;s insulating properties break down, allowing a powerful electric current to pass through.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This results in a sudden release of energy, creating a bright flash and an associated sound wave (thunder).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"c5d0d6\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #c5d0d6;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/how-lighting-develops.png\" alt=\"how lighting develops\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-42096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/how-lighting-develops.png 600w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/how-lighting-develops-300x144.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Factors Responsible for Increased Incidents of Lightning in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Geographic and Climatic Conditions:<\/strong> Regions with high humidity, such as the eastern states and coastal areas, are more prone to thunderstorms and lightning.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The topography, including the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, also influences the frequency of lightning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Monsoon Dynamics: <\/strong>The monsoon season, with its intense rainfall and convective activity, is a major driver of lightning in India.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The convergence of moist air masses and the rising of warm, moist air during the monsoon season often lead to the formation of thunderstorms and lightning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Urbanization and Industrialization: <\/strong>Rapid urbanization and industrialization increase the number of artificial heat sources and aerosols in the atmosphere.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These enhance convection and contribute to more frequent thunderstorms, thus increasing lightning incidents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate Change:<\/strong> Changes in global climate patterns are influencing local weather phenomena.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Increased temperatures and changes in humidity levels alter storm dynamics, potentially leading to more frequent and intense lightning events.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agricultural Practices:<\/strong> The burning of agricultural residues and deforestation can contribute to the accumulation of particulates in the atmosphere.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0These particulates affect cloud formation and increase the likelihood of thunderstorms and lightning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>CROPC (Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council)<\/strong> has developed India\u2019s first Lightning Early Warning System, aimed at predicting lightning strikes and issuing alerts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The mobile app <strong>SACHET<\/strong> was launched to alert the public about imminent lightning hazards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In <strong>2020<\/strong>, <strong>Damini<\/strong> Lightning apps were developed by <strong>Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM)-Pune.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strengthening communication systems<\/strong> to ensure warnings reach vulnerable populations effectively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Training local authorities <\/strong>to act swiftly upon early warnings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increasing public awareness<\/strong> about lightning safety measures, especially during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improving ground-level implementation<\/strong> of NDMA protocols to minimize fatalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/natural-disasters\/over-160-killed-by-lightning-in-march-april-2025-184-surge-from-last-year#:~:text=At%20least%20162%20people%20were,March%202\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Around 162 people were killed by lightning strikes across 12 Indian states between March 2025 and mid-April 2025.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is Lightning?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Lightning is an electrical discharge between charged particles in a cloud and the ground.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Although air normally acts as an electrical insulator, when the voltage reaches about 3 million volts per meter (V\/m), the air&#8217;s insulating properties break down, allowing a powerful electric current to pass through.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/lightning-deaths-march-april-2025\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42095"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42137,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42095\/revisions\/42137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}