Monsoon pours it down over Cherrapunji Mawsynram

Monsoon pours it down over Cherrapunji Mawsynram

Subject : Geography

Context :Two of India’s best-known stations for spectacular monsoon downpour lived up to its their names during the 24 hours ending on Tuesday morning.

Concept :

Mawsynram

• Mawsynram is a town in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya state in northeastern India, 60.9 kilometres from Shillong.
• Mawsynram receives the highest rainfall in India.
• It is reportedly the wettest place on Earth, with an average annual rainfall of 11,872mm but that claim is disputed.
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mawsynram received 26,000 millimetres (1,000 in) of rainfall in 1985.

Cherrapunji

• Cherrapunji, known to locals as Sohra, is located in the East Khasi Hills in the Indian state of Meghalaya.
• Sandwiched between Assam in the north and Bangladesh in the south, Meghalaya is a part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot–one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots in India after the Himalayas–due to rapid resource exploitation and habitat loss.
• The hills of the eastern sub-Himalayas- Garo, Khasi and Jaintia, run through most of Meghalaya, and the rest of the landscape is a high plateau.
• Cherrapunji was declared the wettest land-based location on Earth after it receive an average of 11,872 mm in annual rainfall — more than 10 times India’s national average (of 1,083 mm).

Reason for High Rainfall in Cherrapunji and Mawsynram

• Cherrapunji (elevation 1313 m) and Mawsynram (elevation 1401.5 m) are located on the southern slopes of the east Khasi Hills in Meghalaya.
• Meghalaya is a mountainous state with numerous valleys and highland plateaus.
• Elevation in the plateau region ranges between 150 m to 1,961 m , with the central part comprising the Khasi Hills with the highest elevations.
• The rainfall in Cherrapunji-Mawsynram is caused by the orography favouring a monsoon wind regime.
• The northward moving moist winds from the Bay of Bengal passing over the plains of Bangladesh are forced to converge in the narrow valleys of the Khasi Hills with orography providing forced ascent that causes condensation, formation of clouds resulting in rain on the windward side of the slope.