STH Stormwatch: Cyclone Hudhud upgraded from 'Severe' to 'Very Severe'

Updates (upto 10Oct2014) on track and information of Cyclone 'Hudhud' are here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Stormwatch (08Oct2014) : Cyclone 'Hud Hud' forms in the Bay of Bengal

The depression in the Bay of Bengal has been upgraded to a cyclone named 'Hud Hud' or TC03B (JTWC).
'Hud Hud' would intensify in a very severe cyclonic storm and proceed along the track forecast .

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Stormwatch : Update on depression in Bay of Bengal

• IMetD has upgraded the well-marked low pressure into a depression which would further intensify into a deep-depression within 24h and eventually become a cyclone.
• The JTWC predicted tracks are shown on top.
• The latest IR photo is shown above.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Stormwatch 07Oct2014 : the first cyclone in Bay of Bengal of 2014?

Excerpt from IMetD
'The well marked low pressure area over north Andaman sea and neighborhood has concentrated into a Depression and lay centred at 0830 hours IST of today, near lat.11.5°N / long 95.0° E, about 250 km east of Port Blair.
It would move in a west­ northwesterly direction and intensify into a deep depression within 24 hours and further intensify into a cyclonic storm thereafter.'


Updates and tracks of the storm will be posted as required.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling.

September 2014 : Rainfall data of Darjeeling and Sikkim and extreme weather events in Kashmir and Assam

In Sept 2014, rainfall in SHWB and Sikkim went deficient again with no major weather system ie depression or cyclone forming in the Bay of Bengal during the month. Consequently there was no major landslide in the area.
Things were very different in Kashmir during the first of the Sept where approx 3000% excess rainfall was recorded at places (see red dots in middle chart), this lead to flooding and landslides on a hitherto unseen scale in the Kashmir valley.
Towards the end of the month, we saw a repeat of this situation in Assam and Meghalaya and excess rainfall exceeding 1500% of normal was seen in some parts of Meghalaya (see red dots in bottom chart)

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Monsoon withdrawal dates and why it is raining in the Darjeeling-Sikkim region

As per IMetD the 'well marked low pressure has now moved to north Odisha adjoining Gangetic W Bengal and Jharkhand' resulting in the tremendous moisture incursion over our area (region 5 - see below) and the rain.
We are nearing the end of the monsoons and the earth is saturated with water; in this situation heavy, continuous rainfall as predicted by IMetD (see warning chart below) is certainly not good news.
Unfortunately, despite repeated  letters to concerned authorities many of the IMetD AWS/ARG stations are either unserviceable or give erroneous readings as such it is difficult to obtain the correct overall picture of precipitation in the area.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Lest we forget : 6.9R Earthquake in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya on 18Sep2011

A full report is here

Photo credit :
Tseten Lepcha,
Dzongu,
Sikkim

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Stormwatch (16Sep2014) : Reporting a Low Pressure in Bay of Bengal

IMetD excerpt

'A   low   pressure   area   has   formed   over   northwest   and   adjoining   westcentral   Bay   of   Bengal   and  coastal   areas   of   Odisha. Associated upper air cyclonic circulation extends upto 7.6 km above mean sea level
tilting southwestwards with height'

Updates will be posted as necessary

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

From NDTV : Natural or Man-Made - Who Takes More Blame for J&K Calamity?

Comment by Praful Rao
On 07Sep2013, Dr Prannoy Roy of NDTV hosted a talk show with many luminaries and experts in Disaster Management, captioned 'Is India ready for the next big disaster?';  almost exactly a year on, we have the answer to that question in Srinagar and Kashmir.
Incidentally, in response to a discussion during the show, that TV channels could easily issue targeted early warning (EW) broadcasts in local dialect to communities likely to be affected by extreme weather events, I made a number of requests to NDTV, NDMA and TISS (all participants in the show) for trials of such EW broadcasts to be conducted in Darjeeling district before the onset of the 2014 monsoons - since we are after all, in one of the most landslide prone regions in the country.
No one responded.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Rainfall data Aug2014

IMetD clamped a 'heavy rainfall warning' in the Sub-Himalayan West Bengal (SHWB) and Sikkim region for much of Aug2014 even though there was no major activity in the Bay of Bengal (we plotted two low pressure areas 1 and 2, during the month).
In Kalimpong, we experienced some of the soggiest and damp days thus far in 2014 even as the periods of heavy rainfall was limited to just 3 days.
The heaviest rainfall during Aug2014 was along the plains of Dooars and even Siliguri with the mountainous region receiving considerably less rain.
There were no reports of major landslides in this region.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling