Cherrapunji bags yet another record

 Amidst the heat and dust of the elections, here is a wet news to cool your heart. India’s Cherrapunji has bagged the world record of having the highest rainfall for two consecutive days because of two very, very wet days, a decade ago.

On June 15-16 in 1995, the tiny town in picturesque Meghalaya received 2,493 mm rainfall, which according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is the highest ever 48-hours rainfall received anytime, anywhere in the world.

The total rainfall at Cherrapunji exceeds the previous world 48-hour rainfall record of 2,467 mm associated with the passage of a tropical cyclone over the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion (France) in April 1958.

Frequently hit by tropic cyclones, La Réunion receives large amounts of rainfall over its mountains and continues to hold the record for the most rainfall over periods of 12 hours and 24 hours (in 1966), as well as 72 hours and 96 hours (in 2007).

The new 48-hour record reaffirms Cherrapunji as one of the wettest places on the Earth. The new record complements the Meghalaya town’s long-held numero uno status for the highest annual rainfall (26,470 mm), which was recorded between August 1860 and July 1861. The WMO conferred the new record on Cherrapunji following a global review of climate extreme events by independent experts from several countries. 

An international panel of meteorologists and climatologists assessed the precipitation record at Cherrapunji on 15–16 June, 1995 to recommend the north-east town as the new “highest 48-hour precipitation for the world,” which the world’s weather body accepted.Cherrapunji’s extensive rains are the result of summer monsoon depressions interacting with its mountainous topography.

The place is on the Meghalaya plateau at an elevation of 1484 metres, facing the plains of Bangladesh.