Fog and dew climatology over Hisar, India

In many arid and semi-arid areas, pumped ground water and the water from streams, rivers and reservoirs is no longer sufficient to cover the ever increasing water demand. Therefore new interest in 'marginal' water resources like fog and dew harvesting are to be developed after studying climatology of these parameters in a region. The observations on dew and fog events recorded at Hisar, representing semi-arid region of India during winter season (October to March) for the period 1980 to 2005 have been analyzed. The total annual dew amount in winter season ranged between 33 mm (1987-88) and 79 mm (1981-82) during the period under study. The seasonal dewfall showed a decreasing trend of 1.4 mm during the period under investigation. Average maximum dew events (26.1) were recorded during November and average minimum dew events were recorded in February. In a particular season, the highest dew events (168) were observed during the winter seasons of 1982-83 and 1983-84, whereas, the minimum number of dew events (97) was reported during 1998-99. Interestingly, an increasing trend (1.3 day/season) in occurrence of fog events was seen. Average maximum foggy events (8.7) recorded in a month were observed in January. In a particular season, the maximum foggy events (41) were recorded during 2002-03 and the minimum (2) during 1983-84. To achieve the objective of alternate source of water and to assess the impact of dew and fog on agricultural crops for their growth and development, inputs from various specialized disciplines and allied sciences engaged in meteorological applications along with forecasting skills from non scientific quarters are needed to predict the weather parameter accurately, thus the active cooperation between meteorological/remote sensing agencies, agricultural organizations and farming community is needed for sustainable agricultural development in scarce/limited water availability regions. (author)