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UPSC 2024 GS-I · 10 marks · 150 words

What is the phenomenon of 'cloudbursts'? Explain.

'बादल फटने' (क्लाउडबर्स्ट) की परिघटना क्या है? व्याख्या कीजिए।

What “Explain” demands

set out how or why something works, with the mechanism made explicit.

The characteristic failure: stating that it works without showing how.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Definition: >100 mm rain in ~1 hour over ~20-30 km² (IMD), usually orographic + convective coupling
  • Mechanism: moisture-laden monsoon winds forced up steep terrain, cumulonimbus towers stalling over one valley
  • Geography: Himalayan states dominate — Kedarnath 2013, Amarnath 2022, Himachal 2023
  • Why forecasting fails: sub-radar spatial scale; Doppler radar gaps in the hills — a diagram of the stalled cell earns presentation credit

The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

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