Rainfall data May2013 and a brief analysis.

Compared to a parched May2012 where almost the entire Darjeeling district ran deficient in rainfall, May2013 was a month where nearly all of Sikkim and Darjeeling district had more than our share of precipitation.
This was perhaps due to two major weather systems which formed in the Bay of Bengal and moved of inland; Cyclone Mahasen brushed past Kolkata on15May2013 and made landfall in Bangladesh while a depression crossed the coast, south east of Kolkata and headed northwest before dying out in the last week of May2013.  
In contrast, all was quiet in the Bay of Bengal in May2012.
Also on 30May2013 following incessant, heavy rain we had our first landslide fatality this year, (in Darjeeling town) along with a number of landslides all over Darjeeling  district.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong