Cherrapunji, Meghalaya. It is a town in East Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya. It is credited as being the wettest place on earth. Cherrapunji sits on the southern tip of a plateau that looms over Bangladesh. The cliffs of Cherrapunji are the first place hit by moisture that forms over the Bay of Bengal. All the rain lands on arid, deforested, ground. As there is no reservoir to store the rain water, it rapidly runs down the hill towards the plains of Bangladesh. Cherrapunji's yearly rainfall average stands at 11,430 mm (450 in). This figure places it behind only nearby Mawsynram, Meghalaya, whose average is 11,873 mm (467 in) and Mount Wai?ale?ale on the Hawaiian island of Kaua?i, whose average is 11,684 mm (460 in).
Board put up in Cherrapunji, confirming the fact that it is the wettest place on Earth.(image on left side)
Cherrapunji region: On the Satellite image map.
Cherrapunji receives both the Southwest and Northeast monsoon showers which give it a single monsoon season. Cherrapunji lies at an elevation of 1,370 (4,500 feet) in the Khasi Hills. It lies in the windward side of these hills to the Bay of Bengal branch of the SW monsoons which enters India through Ganga delta. Due to orographic rainfall, the rain-bearing clouds are forced to deposit much of their moisture and rain on these hills from June to September.In the winter months it receives the northeast monsoon showers which travel down the Brahmaputra valley.
It holds two Guinness world records:
- For receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year: 22,987 mm from Aug 1860 to July 1861
- For receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single month: 9299.96 mm (366.14 inches) in July 1861
Graph showing the rainfall in the state(average) throughout the year.
Cherrapunjee receives rains from the Bay of Bengal arm of the Indian Summer Monsoon. The monsoon clouds fly unhindered over the plains of Bangladesh for about 400 km. Thereafter, they hit Khasi hills which abruptly erupt out of the plains to reach a height of about 1370m above MSL within a short distance of 2 to 5 km. The orography of the hills with many deep valleys channels the low flying (150-300 m) moisture laden clouds from a wide area to converge over Cherrapunjee which falls in the middle of the path of this stream. The winds push the rain clouds through these gorges and up the steep slopes. The rapid ascendance of the clouds into the upper atmosphere hastens the cooling and helps vapours to condense. Most of Cherrapunjee's rain is the consequence of air being lifted as a large body of water vapour. Extremely large amount of rainfall at Cherrapunjee is perhaps the most well known feature of orographic rain in northeast India.
Images of Cherrapunji village
Occasionally, cloudbursts can occur in one part of Cherrapunjee whereas other areas may be totally or relatively dry depicting high spatial variability of rainfall. Atmospheric humidity is extremely high during the peak monsoon period.A notable feature of monsoon rain at Cherrapunjee is that most of it falls during the morning hours. This could be partly due to two different air masses coming together. During the monsoon months, the prevailing winds along the Brahmaputra valley generally blow from the east or the northeast. On the other hand, the winds over Meghalaya are from the south. The confluence of these two winds systems usually takes place in the vicinity of the Khasi Hills. Apparently the winds that are trapped in the valley at night begin upward ascent only after they are warmed during the day. This explains partially the frequency of morning rainfall. Apart from orographic features, atmospheric convection plays an important role during the monsoon and the period just preceding it.
Rain clouds in the Cherrapunji region.
A Land of Contrasts
It's ironic that the wettest place in the world manages to thirst for water each winter when no rain falls at all for months at a time. The type of phenomenon that brings so much rain to this part of the world is called the monsoons.Monsoons are seasonal winds that blow from one direction for approximately six months, bringing torrential rains, and then blow from the opposite direction for the remaining six months, during which little rain falls.During the wet season moist air is cooled as it blows over rising land,letting abundant rain fall on the windward side of mountain ranges.But because of widespread destruction of conifer forests that protected the soil, the ground does not absorb the rain that falls so heavily during the monsoon season. The city of Cherrapunji is 1290 meters above sea level and much of the torrential rains run off the mountains into the valley below. The irrigation system for the town of Cherrapunji is insufficient to provide adequate amounts of clean, potable water from below during the dry season. People who live there frequently have to travel on foot for several kilometers to bathe and get drinking water.
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