Krishna Mishra, Naresh Kumar and M. Mohapatra
An exceptional heavy rain/snow event caused flooding & Avalanches over southeast Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indian Himalayas during 11th to 13thJanuary 2020. As a result, there was huge loss in lives & property. In Pakistan only, there were around 100 human deaths and more than 200 houses damaged. This unusual event was due to a Western Disturbance (WD) developed over North Atlantic Ocean around 1st January 2020. It moved nearly eastwards & split into two components on 10th January 2020, one moved northeastwards and other towards Indian Himalayas across Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was a warm core high at upper tropospheric levels and cold core low at mid-tropospheric levels with sharp temperature gradient about 20° to 24°C. The system received very high moisture feed from Arabian Sea at lower & upper tropospheric levels. In addition, wind confluence between WD and from the anti-cyclone at Arabian Sea triggered the intense weather activity over the region.