Intensity of sandstorms is increasing across the world...

Intensity of sandstorms is increasing across the world. As the climate gets warmer the temperature gradient is going to become steep. This steep increase in temperature gradient will lead to two things – heat waves and sand storms.

With the rise in global temperature the soil is going to become drier. So, the amount of soil that wind can carry is also increasing. With both the intensity of the wind and dryness of the soil increasing, the intensity of dust storm is going to further increase in the future.

Dust storms and thunderstorms are a result of nearly similar weather conditions, like intense heat. Areas that have the moisture in air experience thunderstorms while those which don’t have moisture experience dust storms. 

These events happen between March to May period only. In pre-monsoon period temperatures are very high around 44-45 degree Celsius and leads to such activities.

As per the National Crime Records Bureau data, compared to other natural disasters like cyclone, floods or heat waves, lightning kills more people in India. For instance, at least 25 percent of the 10,510 accidental deaths attributable to forces of nature in 2015 were due to lightning. The number of deaths due to lightning has constantly remained over 2,000 every year since 2005.