# Q2A · Elaborate in brief any 5 causes for Cold Wave and Droughts.

Subject: Disaster Management

Exam: TEE

Reader: https://deep-learning-study-room.vercel.app/dm/#tee/papers/paper-2025-05-12/q2a

Canonical: https://deep-learning-study-room.vercel.app/read/dm/tee/papers/paper-2025-05-12--q2a/

Actual older TEE paper · 100 marks · Q1 compulsory; any four of Q2–Q7

### Q2A. Elaborate in brief any 5 causes for Cold Wave and Droughts. [10 marks]

#### Answer

## Five cold-wave causes

1. **Cold air intrusion.** Air masses from colder regions can sharply lower local temperatures.
2. **Clear nights.** The ground loses heat through radiation when cloud cover is limited.
3. **Light winds.** In some settings light winds allow a shallow cold layer to develop near the surface.
4. **Snow and cold surfaces.** Snow cover and nearby cold terrain can reinforce low temperatures under suitable conditions.
5. **Persistent circulation.** Weather patterns can sustain cold conditions over several days. Climate change does not mean cold events become impossible.

## Five drought causes and contributing factors

1. **Persistent rainfall deficit.** Rainfall stays below the local seasonal requirement for a sustained period. Delayed monsoon onset, long dry spells or early withdrawal reduce the water entering soil, streams and reservoirs.
2. **High evaporative demand.** Hot, dry and windy conditions increase evaporation and plant water demand. The same rainfall deficit can therefore produce a more severe soil-moisture shortage.
3. **Large-scale circulation variability.** Variations in circulation and monsoon behaviour can suppress rain over a region. ENSO can influence some Indian droughts, but not every El Niño produces drought everywhere and not every drought has this cause.
4. **Excessive withdrawal relative to recharge.** Over-abstraction of groundwater or surface water can intensify hydrological shortage. Water-demand pressure amplifies drought impacts; it does not itself cause a meteorological rainfall deficit.
5. **Reduced storage and poor water management.** Degraded catchments, loss of suitable water storage, leakage and unsuitable crop-water demand leave less usable supply during a dry period. These conditions increase drought vulnerability rather than independently proving that rainfall has decreased.

Separate the **climatic trigger** from the **human factors that intensify water shortage**. Example: a village faces deficient monsoon rainfall; high heat dries the soil faster, heavy pumping lowers groundwater, and leaky supply pipes worsen the shortage.

Source: [Government of India Manual for Drought Management, hosted by NIDM](https://nidm.gov.in/pdf/manuals/drought_manual.pdf): rainfall deficit, evaporative losses and water-demand indicators. This explains mechanisms, not a declaration of drought for any specific district.

#### Illustrative application · A rain-fed farming district

A season of deficient rainfall can first create meteorological drought, then crop-water stress, and later reduced streamflow or storage. Preparedness combines water information, demand management and livelihood support. The sequence is an illustration, not a claim that every district follows the same timing.