STH Stormwatch (26Oct2012) : LOPAR in the Bay of Bengal

Though the SW Monsoons have withdrawn from the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, the cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal lasts till at least Nov-Dec.
STH Stormwatch is reporting the formation of another low pressure area (LOPAR) in the Bay.
For those interested, you can obtain half hourly updates of the IR images from the IMetD website here

Praful Rao

STH stormwatch : The Gathering Storm

Chasing a storm on the Internet

More PowerPoint presentations from praful rao

After a final sting, the SW monsoons of 2012 withdraw from the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas

Death toll due to Landslides in 2012

Uttarkhand - 32 (official - unofficial figures in the media peg this at 45)
Sikkim        - 34 ( 24 died on 22Sep2012)
Deaths also occurred in the North Eastern states of India for which figures are awaited.

Praful Rao

STH storm watch : Another LOPAR in the northern Bay of Bengal

After a relatively quiescent period through the monsoons, in Oct we are seeing a cauldron of activity in the Bay of Bengal with yet another low pressure area (LOPAR) brewing, this time off the coast of Myanmar and shifting slowly towards Bangladesh and W Bengal.
All this is not too good news for us living in the Darjeeling / Sikkim Himalaya and brings back memories of the 1968 disaster which also occurred in early October of that year.

Comment by Praful Rao on 12Oct2012

As a part of STH storm watch we monitor the activity in the Bay of Bengal continuously during the monsoons and I kept a close track of this low as it formed and then gradually shifted on a north-westerly track towards Bangladesh and southern W Bengal.
Since the storm was never categorized as anything more than a "well marked low pressure" very little warning about it was given both in W Bengal and Bangladesh as such I was shocked to read about the devastation, death and havoc it caused in Bangladesh. You can read about it here
But perhaps the silver lining in all this is that even an ordinary person like me can make use of the tools made available by technology today to effectively monitor adverse weather fairly accurately and obtain advance information and warning about it .

Praful Rao

STH storm watch: The LOPAR persists

Almost 2 days after STH first observed and reported (by telephone and SMS to certain key Disaster Management organizations) the development of a low in the north  Bay of Bengal , the LOPAR (low pressure area)  still ominously persists.

Praful Rao

STH Storm Watch : First Low Pressure Area of monsoon 2012 forms in the Bay of Bengal

Excerpt from IMetD (Kolkata) website

Main synoptic features based on 0830 hrs IST Observations dt.06.10.2012
Under the influence of Upper-air Trough over North Bay of Bengal, a low pressure area has formed over North Bay of Bengal adjoining areas. Associated cyclonic circulation extends upto 2.1 km a.s.l.

Comment by Praful Rao
The activity in the Bay of Bengal has been unusually quiet during the monsoons of 2012 with no lows, depressions or cyclones forming.
STH monitors the activity in the Bay on the internet and reports all adverse weather activity with a view to provide early warning.
On 06Oct2012, I MetD is reporting formation of the first low pressure area of the season in the Bay of Bengal.

Rainfall stats, Darjeeling dist Sep2012

Sep 2012 was a month of unusual rainfall activity with the first and last two weeks of the month being totally deficient in rain and almost 80% of the monthly rainfall ( 410mm) crashing down between 11Sep and 17Sep2012.
This rainfall caused landslides all over the district but there were no fatalities.
Fatalities occurred in North Sikkim however, when heavy rainfall there persisted well into the third week of Sep2012.

Praful Rao

From Sikkim today : 24Sep2012

Photo credits : Mr Wangchuk Dorjee
                    : Mr Chewang Lepcha


Praful Rao

Fatal landslide in N Sikkim : 24 dead on 22Sep2012

Comments by Praful Rao
We have been witnessing an extraordinary rainfall pattern over the last few weeks in this region.
In Kalimpong, we were terribly deficient in rain  from 01-09Sep2012 but between 10-17Sep2012 due to the monsoon trough shifting close to us and an upper air cyclonic circulation over Jharkhand, we received around 84% (343mm) of our monthly rainfall for Sep (410mm) in just 7 days and by 20Sep we crossed out monthly average.
What is worrisome is that this intense rainfall comes at the end of the monsoon season when the earth is totally saturated with water -  creating an ideal recipe for landslides.
Sikkim receives much more rain than Kalimpong and I do know that this month they have gone well past the monthly average there.
Placed above is the IR image of 22Sep2012  of 1600hrs (ie of yesterday when the landslide/ flashflood occurred) which shows dense clouding over Sikkim.

National Conference on Disaster Management 17-18Sep2012, Gangtok Sikkim

I had the privilege of attending  Day-II (18Sep2012) of the two day National Conference on Disaster Management at Chintan Bhavan, Gangtok. The conference was organized by Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority to mark the first anniversary of the 18Sep2011 Sikkim earthquake and as such was focused more or less totally on earthquakes.

I was, however allowed to talk on landslides and extreme weather events like the recent Sept rains which dumped 84% of the monthly rainfall in just one week.

The conference had delegates and speakers from Bihar, Odissa, Manipur and representatives from UNDP, UNICEF, IITs, NDMA, NDRF, officers of the army, BRO, para military or and many more organizations.

The keynote address on Day-1 was given by Shri KM Singh, Member NDMA and on Day-II by Shri Karma Gyatso (IAS), Chief Secretary, Sikkim.

Some of the outcomes of Day-II were :-

1. 18Sep would be observed as “Disaster Reduction Day” in the state of Sikkim from now on and one year (ie Sep2012-Sep2013) would be observed as “Preparedness Year”.
2. Special importance would be given to school safety and disaster management studies would be introduced into school curriculum without delay.
3. Similarly safety of hospitals and other life line structures would be given paramount importance.
4. The socio-economic aspects of the 18Sep2011 earthquake would also be studied.
   
   
   Praful Rao