Rainfall data of Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya (August 2017)

From 'The Hindu' (15Sep2017) : Recurving cyclones dried August rains

 

A strange pattern of tropical cyclones (TC) in the Western Pacific appear to be the reason for the drying up of monsoon rains in August across India.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted normal monsoon rains in August, typically the second most bountiful monsoon month after July.
During the monsoon months, cyclones in the Western Pacific move westwards towards India and aid rain-bearing systems over the sub-continent. But during some years they ‘recurve’, or start to swing north-east, and do not give as much of a push to the rains as they do in the good monsoon years
Read further here

The delay in putting up this report as well as the incomplete data in the Sikkim report is regretted but was totally beyond our control, due the ban on internet in this region and the ongoing political agitation.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

 

Rainfall data of April 2016 for the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

April 2016 was a bone dry month for much of the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya.
The precipitation that occurred was the result of western disturbances moving in from west to east at latitudes north of Darjeeling - Kalimpong axis. Hence the fact that Gangtok and North Sikkim had more than normal (123.7mm) rain whereas South/West Sikkim and Darjeeling district as a whole had deficient rainfall.
This deficiency resulted in major problems in the agriculture sector as well as caused severe shortage of potable water in Darjeeling district and South/West districts of Sikkim.
There were no landslides during this period.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Deficient rainfall, monsoon progress and formation of the first LOPAR of 2014 in the Bay of Bengal

The Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya is running anywhere from 56% deficient during the winter of 2013 to 31% deficient in Mar-May2014 (see top map) in rainfall. This has resulted in the maize crop being stunted and dwarfed in many parts of rural Kalimpong, a severe adverse effect in the tea industry and  a critical shortage in potable water in all the urban centres of the district.
In this background, the formation of 'a low pressure area over east central Bay of Bengal and its neighbourhood, an associated cyclonic circulation extending upto mean troposphere' (see above) maybe a welcome sign of rain in the days ahead.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling