Cherrapunji, Mawsynram and Mumbai: How Much Can It Rain In A Day?
Posted by Prof R R Kelkar on August 21, 2008
The town of Cherrapunji in northeast India has earned global fame as being the wettest place on earth. But there are other places, like Mawsynram, a neighbouring town, the city of Mumbai on the west coast of India or the island of Aminidivi in the Arabian Sea, which have also received exceptionally heavy rainfall.
In a recent correspondence by Rajendra Kumar Jenamani and S. C. Bhan (Current Science, August 2008, Vol. 95, page 299), some authentic rainfall records from the data archives of the India Meteorological Department have been published and these are as given below.
Highest 24-hours rainfall records in India:
(Here the 24-hour period is counted from 0830 IST (0300 UTC) of a day to 0830 IST of the next day.)
156.3 cm at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) on 15–16 June 1995
116.8 cm at Aminidivi (Lakshadweep) on 5–6 May 2004
103.6 cm at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) on 13–14 June 1876
99.7 cm at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) on 11–12 July 1910
98.9 cm at Mawsynram (Meghalaya) on 9–10 July 1952
98.7 cm at Dharamapur (Gujarat) on 1–2 July 1941
98.5 cm at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) on 12–13 September 1974
94.4 cm at Santacruz-Mumbai (Maharashtra) on 26–27 July 2005
JPvdGiessen said
Very interesting
veeraiguhan said
Respected Sir,
Even there are hilly regions in western Ghat area [altitude: 1200m to 1500m]right from Kanyakumari to Mumbai where “the one day annual maximum rainfall” is exceeding 100.0cm. As some of these stations are maintained by private Tea estates, such data is NOT available with IMD. They are [1] Kuthiraivetti in Manjolai Estate in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu [2]Chinna Kallar in Coimbatore district [3] Devala in Nilgiri district. [4]Agumbe in Karnataka
China Kallar is situated close to 10 Degree North parallel and it is said to be the wettest place in South India. Annual rainfall ranging from 5000-6000mm. {There were reports that it once recorded 9000 mm annual rainfall]It lies just North of Silent Valley.