Landslide in Darjeeling town (25Aug2011)

What is worth noting is that we have not have continuous heavy showers in this region in Aug2011 and as such we have had virtually no major landslides during this month in Darjeeling district. 
Also, it was extremely fortunate that the above landslide took place sometime past midnight this morning and as such we had no casualties in an area (located  below the famous, heritage Windamere Hotel)  which is otherwise thronging with tourists and pedestrians all thru the day.

Rainfall in Darjeeling on 24Aug2011: 129mm
Rainfall in Kalimpong on 24Aug2011 : 6mm
Rainfall in Gangtok on 24Aug2011 : 7mm

Photo Credit : Mr Mohan Lama, Darjeeling

Praful Rao

A quick way to check the weather : Google Maps

Google has just updated the Google Maps with a weather overlay that provides users with current weather condition around the world and forecasts for the next five days as well.
All one has to do is go to our area of the world and select the weather layer on the top right hand corner of the page to get the picture shown above.
The weather reports on Google Maps’ are sourced from weather.com and  U.S. Naval Research Lab empowers the feature that shows cloud coverage on the map.
For people who want a more detailed satellite images and forecast I still suggest the IMD website

Praful Rao

A great NEW website from IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) website and its many links provides a wealth of information about rainfall throughout the country along with satellite images - the latter being useful for early warning about the onset of adverse weather phenomena.
I just came across a NEW (judging by the number of hits till date) website which give updates from the numerous Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rainfall Gauges (ARGs) installed by the IMD all over the country. It is great to have such tools to monitor weather and rainfall. The website is here

Praful Rao

Rainfall data July 2011

Since most landslides in our area are rain induced, keeping a tab of the rainfall in the Darjeeling district is one of our roles. 
In Jul2011 in keeping with the clear trend which is emerging,  Kurseong received the heaviest rain followed by Darjeeling and then Kalimpong. Mercifully, few landslides ( see here and here )were recorded and there were no fatalities.
Starting August we will include the rainfall data of Gangtok also in the above chart.

Praful Rao