At least 111 people have died and another 59 have been injured as high winds and dust storms swept across Uttar Pradesh State in northern India on Wednesday 13 May 2026. The storms also damaged at least 227 homes and killed at least 200 head of livestock. Most of the injuries and fatalities have been attributed to falling trees, and in some cases walls. One man working on installing a metal roof on a warehouse building was thrown 15 m into the air when the winds tore the roof away, but miraculously survived.
High winds and dust storms are common in Uttar Pradesh in the summer months of April, May and June, when high temperatures over the arid areas to the southwest, which include the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, the Cholistan Desert of the Punjab, and the Kharan Desert of Baluchistan, can reach 45-50°C, resulting in a hot dry wind known as the 'loo' which blows over the North Indian Plain. This combination of heat and dry winds has a desiccating effect, causing trees to lose their leaves and much of the vegetation of the area to dry out and die (before blooming again with the onset of the monsoon season). It can also be very harmful to Humans, with deaths from heatstroke most common at this time of year.
However, this week's storm was a more exceptional event, bringing with it winds of over 160 km per hour, as well as heavy rainfall, something not usually associated with the loo winds. This appears to have been brought about by the interplay between a the loo wind and two cool cyclonic systems, one of which was located over northern Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, the other over Haryana and the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, according to the India Meteorological Department. The cyclonic systems had already been drawing in warm moist air from the Bay of Bengal, and when they encountered the loo winds, the moist air was forced upwards, rapidly forming cumulonimbus (thunderhead) clouds, while the dryer air wash pushed into a downdraught, leading to much higher wind speeds.
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