Rainfall data of some towns in the Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya - July2020

In July, rainfall in our region during the SW Monsoon (Jun-Sep) peaks - and peak it did this year. Except for W Sikkim, Darjeeling and Sikkim had excess rain in July2020, caused by a rather frequent movement of the monsoon trough towards the foothills of the Himalayas.

July ended up being a very 'WARNED' month, with RED WARNINGS for heavy rain being issued thru much of the month

Numerous landslides were reported in our WHATS APP group (HAZARD ALERTS) and some have been documented in this blog (here 1 and 2 ) - we are still in the process of collecting data on many more of the landslides which have taken place.

The REALLY heavy rainfall however, took place along the foothills of the Dooars and Bhutan and the plains of North Bengal
Some heavy rainfall data from the foothills and plains:
305.6mm - Alipur Duar (02Jul), 116.8mm - Siliguri (03Jul), 213.4mm - Samsing (10Jul),
245mm - Jholung (10Jul), 165.1mm- Rongo (11Jul), 237.7mm- Siliguri (12Jul),
463.4mm - Gazoledoba (12Jul), 345.4mm- Alipur Duar (12Jul), 230mm -Bagrakot (28Jul)

A milestone event in all this gloom, was the activation of 3 DAVIS AWS stations at Kalimpong, Gangtok and Darjeeling where weather and rainfall data is available in real - time from the stations
A fourth AWS is now at Kurseong and should be active soon

My thanks to Ms Shreya Gurung for maintaining the rainfall records.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Of rainfall and rainfall gauges

Since most of the landslides in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya are rain induced, we have made it our business to monitor rainfall in the district's 3 main towns (Darjeeling,Kurseong & Kalimpong) using wireless Automatic Rainfall Gauges (ARGs) shown above. The device records rainfall data automatically for 9 days, displays outside and inside temperatures, is affordable (approx Rs4,700 in India) and is virtually maintenance free;  it can also be bought online in India. I do believe many schools are interested in acquiring these devices as a part of their geography laboratory equipment.

In addition, I have learnt that India Meteorological Department will be installing Automatic Weather Stations in several towns in the district which includes Kalimpong and Pedong (Darjeeling already has an AWS  for some time now) - these devices are, of course, a lot more expensive and record a whole lot of other parameters which can be read here

We have started recording the rainfall data since last month and rainfall for the month of APRIL 2011 is as follows :-

Darjeeling (82mm)        Kurseong (67mm)        Kalimpong(51mm)
(Gandhi Road,                (Dow Hill,                               (Tirpai,

 Darjeeling)                     Kurseong)                             Kalimpong)
                             
We will upload monthly rainfall day wise from JUNE 2011

Praful Rao