Rainfall data of Jul2022 of some towns in the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

As per IMD, the southwesterly wind flow occurring over most parts of India and Indian Seas gives rise to southwest monsoon over India from June to September. The typical rainfall pattern over the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya is shown below:

July is the month when our rainfall normally peaks, with the rains gradually decreasing thereafter.
The rainfall record of July2022 (day wise) of some towns of this region is  tabulated below:

You will notice that we have added rainfall data of
a. Mangzing (a remote village in Pokhriabong GP, Gorubathan block, Kalimpong district)
b. Bijanbari (Relling GP, Pulbazar block, Darjeeling district)
in our effort to map the rainfall of this region.
What is clearly evident is that the rainfall of July 2022 for many parts of the hilly regions of North Bengal and Sikkim was significantly below the normal monthly rainfall (615.8mm). Also for the first time in many years, Kalimpong rainfall exceeded that of Darjeeling.
What is also noticeable from the graph (Fig 1) is the towns mentioned had significantly higher rainfall in June than July which is an anomaly.

Fig1

July 2022 began with a large deficit in rainfall in the Sub Himalayan W Bengal and Sikkim regions however, the rains picked up a little in the third week of July. The paddy crop which is normally planted in July in rain flooded fields never happened in many places (Fig2).

 Fig 2

There was also very little activity in the Bay of Bengal and Pacific Ocean in this entire period  with hardly any typhoons forming in Pacific or low pressure areas in the Bay. A low which formed in Bay on 10July along with the rainfall deficiency is shown in Fig3:

 Fig3

Rainfall departures for July2022 for W Bengal and Sikkim are given below (Fig4)

Fig4

Rainfall was also deficient in South Bengal (Fig5)

 

 (Fig5)

Despite the deficit in rainfall, there were landslides especially along roads and NH10

Landslide at Reshi checkpost on NH717A (below Pedong (Kalimpong district) on 25July 2022.

Shreya Gurung
&
Praful Rao

Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

March 2021- Rainfall of the Darjeeling - Sikkim region

Praful Rao with Ms Shreya Gurung

Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya of Sep2019 and rainfall 2019

We have added Darjeeling (Batasia) station where the rainfall is being recorded by Navin bhai, an enthusiastic amateur meteorologist.

As per the above (lower) table we came to the end of the 2019 SW Monsoon season in September.

Excerpts from IMD's press release on the 2019 SW monsoon is reproduced below:
* The 2019 southwest monsoon season comes to end with above normal seasonal (June to September) rainfall. Quantitatively monsoon seasonal rainfall was 110% of its Long Period Average, which is 88 cm.
* In spite of late monsoon onset and large deficient rainfall during the month of June, the seasonal rainfall ended in above normal category with 110% of its LPA. Monsoon rainfall during July, August and September were 105%, 115% and 152% of its Long Period Average respectively.
* Other salient features of 2019 monsoon seasonal rainfall are as follows:
  - After 1994 (110% of LPA), rainfall received in 2019 (110 % of LPA) is the highest
season rainfall received by the country as a whole.
  - During 18 of the last 19 years (2001-2019), North-East India has received seasonal rainfall less than LPA with an exception of 2007 (110% of LPA). This indicates that the seasonal rainfall over North-East India is passing through a below normal epoch like it was during early 1950s to mid-1980s.
  - After 1931, this is the first time, the seasonal rainfall is more than LPA even after the June rainfall deficiency was more than 30% of LPA.
  - After 1996 (119 % of LPA) , this is the highest recorded August rainfall (115% of LPA).
  - This is the second highest September rainfall (152 of LPA), after 1917 (165% of LPA).
  -  After 2010, this is the first time, rainfalls during all the last three months (July to September) were above LPA.
  -  The highest cumulative rainfall during August-September (130 %) has been recorded in 2019 after 1983 (142 %)
Withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon, 2019
The withdrawal of southwest monsoon is likely to commence from northwest India around 10th October, 2019 against the normal date of 01st September. The most delayed withdrawal in the past years has been recorded in 1961 (1st October 1961), followed by 30th September in 2007.
Rainfall 2019 for East and North East India

Ms Shreya Gurung
Praful Rao

Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya