Analysis of dry and wet climate characteristics at Uttarakhand (India) using effective drought index

Drought is a complex natural disaster that adversely affects human life and the ecosystem. A variety of drought indexes are available for monitoring meteorological drought events. In the present study, Effective Drought Index (EDI) was utilized to quantify the drought and wet conditions with their probability at 13 districts of Uttarakhand State (India). The EDI was calculated for all study locations by using monthly rainfall data. The drought and wet incidents (i.e., moderate, severe, extreme) were categorized by setting a truncation level to the respective EDI value by using the runs theory concept. The results of the EDI examination explore that the probability of occurrence (PO) of normal events (conditions) was found to be 68% at Almora and Dehradun; 72% at Bageshwar; 71% at Chamoli and Pauri Garhwal; 69% at Champawat; Haridwar, Nainital, and Rudraprayag; 77% at Pithoragarh; 74% at Tehri Garhwal; and 44% at Pantnagar. Similarly, the PO of moderate drought and wet (MD and MW) events was found to be relatively more than the severe and extreme drought and wet events, except the Pantnagar station (extreme wet = 0.54). Thus, the outcomes of this study can be utilized to formulate the mitigation strategy in that way to store the surplus water in wet eras and utilized the same during drought for domestic and agricultural drives in the study districts.