Rainfall data of Jun2022 of some towns in the Darjeeling -Sikkim Himalaya

The month of June got us in Kalimpong and Darjeeling scratching our heads about the whereabouts of monsoons 2022. While the North-Eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and Tripura were affected by extreme rainfall, Kalimpong and Darjeeling had a rather quiet and dry month. Siliguri and its vicinity experienced heavy showers in the second half of June. The link about an event to note in Siliguri on 20Jun22 is attached here.

East and North Sikkim received extremely heavy rainfall triggering many landslides that affected the major roads and caused fatalities. Landslides in various parts of Sikkim have resulted in 8 fatalities and numerous casualties from 14Jun22 to 27Jun22, economic losses unknown.

Source: Pakyong Sikkim

Area: East Sikkim

 

Source: Voice of Sikkim

Area: Jholungay, South Sikkim

Landslides in Kalimpong and Darjeeling occurred on NH10 and NH55 between 12Jun22 and 28Jun22, causing major traffic dislocations and damage to the roads.

 

Source: Hazard Alert WA group

Area: Between Bagpool and Kalijhora, NH10

A detailed description of the landslides have been collated here.

Shreya Gurung

Ankit Mankar

Darjeeling District

Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of April2022 of some towns of Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

 

What was very evident in the rainfall of April 2022 was that Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts were deficient in rainfall as were South and West districts of Sikkim.
In North Bengal, areas which received a large surplus of rainfall were Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts whereas the hilly areas of Sub Himalayan West Bengal (SHWB) remained dry and similarly East Sikkim and North Sikkim went surplus.

Praful Rao with Shreya Gurung
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling -Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of May2019 for the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of Gangtok, Dentam and Damthang (Sikkim) are from IMD (Sikkim).

Cyclone FANI which formed in the Bay of Bengal in April 2019 end and dissipated by the first week of May2019 had no impact in our region.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data for Darjeeling - Sikkim : Sep 2016

Rainfall date compilation : Rohan Rao

No major landslide occurred in Sep2016 and the SW monsoons started withdrawal.
Praful Rao
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Rainfall data for Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim : September 2013

The monsoon season thus far has seen an extreme event (the cloud burst) that devastated Uttarkhand, while the North East including Sub Himalayan West Bengal (SHWB) and Sikkim (which normally receives the highest precipitation in the sub-continent) receiving below normal rainfall. On the contrary, Rajasthan a desert state had excess rainfall.
Total rainfall in the sub-continent has been 6% above normal which has benefited the agriculture sector immensely with increased food production and the monsoon is still very active in many parts of the country (normally the SW monsoons start retreating in mid September).
In September 2013, SHWB and Sikkim saw less than normal rainfall and that has been the trend throughout the monsoon season this year.

Unfortunately even with the less than average rainfall, landslides still seem to find a way of affecting us, with five lives being lost in the village Tamabung (Yuksom - Tashiding constituency)  in West Sikkim on 01Sep2013.

Rohan Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email - rohan.rao1313@gmail.com

Rainfall data Darjeeling district and North Sikkim: July2013

The month of July2013, what was characterized by the formation of a number of low pressure areas mostly in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Andhra Pradesh or Orissa. These systems then moved inland initially on a northwesterly track and then later on a westerly direction drawing in moisture both from the Arabian sea and the Bay of Bengal.
It was this movement of the systems which resulted in excessive precipitation over central and west India and deficiency of rain in the eastern and the north eastern states.

In our region, Kurseong was the only town which had normal rainfall, the other towns all had less than normal precipitation.

From Aug2013 till the end of the monsoons, we will be tabulating rainfall over Gangtok and a few other places as well.

There were no major landslides in this area in Jul2013, except that on 30Jul2013 at around 6pm IST, what appears to be a 'cloudburst-like' condition in Upper Rimbi (W Sikkim) caused major damage to infrastructure in that area - mercifully there was no loss of life.

Unfortunately, we are unable to get rainfall records of the area.

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

Darjeeling district.