“Even then, goodbye dear Cherra, and your rain goodbye. I am off to my home, for my life is yonder, though my love is here.” If you have not soaked yourself in the tumultuous rains of Cherrapunji, then possibly your affair with the rains is incomplete. The wettest place on earth got even wetter during the Covid-19 lockdown. According to the Meteorological Department at Sohra, this year’s rainfall in Cherrapunji has been the highest in 10 years.
“The monsoon has been late this year but good weather in lockdown finally induced good rains… Going by the record for the last 10 years from January till August, Cherrapunji received 10,900 mm rainfall, which has been the highest in a decade,” said Piyush Kumar Jha, Met in-charge, Sohra.
Here’s a look at the rainfall recorded in Cherrapunji for the January-August period in the last 10 years:
2020 — 10,900 mm
2019 — 7,736 mm
2018 — 6,291 mm
2017 — 9,913.4 mm
2016 — 9,182.7 mm
2015 — 10,637.5 mm
2014 — 8,483.4 mm
2013 — 6,411.6 mm
2012 — 10,591.4 mm
2011 — 7,691.4 mm
The meteorological department states that India has received the highest rainfall in August this year since 1976 — 25 per cent more than the average, after recording 10 per cent less downpour than the average in July, thus setting a new record after 44 years.
The IMD, however, has forecast that monsoon may slow down in September.
One of the world’s wettest regions Cherrapunji in Meghalaya has an average annual precipitation of about 450 inches (11,430 mm) during monsoon season (from May to September).
Unfortunately, the popular travel destination is devoid of tourists this season, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. The state has counted 4,557 coronavirus infections, of which 2,038 are active cases. The state borders remain closed for seven days in the beginning of every month as a precautionary measure.
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