Cherrapunji

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

"Reciting Salawath on our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an activity that will be accepted by Allah, even if we don't have Ikhlas (piety)".

Cherrapunji is a town in East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It is credited as being the wettest place on earth.

The original name for this town was Sohra, pronounced as "Churra" by the British before morphing into the present one. Ironically, despite perennial rain, Cherrapunji faces acute water shortage and the inhabitants often have to trek for miles to obtain potable water. Irrigation is also hampered due to excessive rain washing away the top soil as a result of human encroachment in the forests. Now the Meghalaya State government has decided to rename Cherrapunjee to its local name "Sohra".

Geography

Cherrapunji is located at 25.30° N 91.70° E. It has an average elevation of 1484 metres (4872 feet).

In Monsunasien, Cherrapunji

Map showing greatest Rainfall

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.

Climate

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).

Cherrapunji receives both the Southwest and Northeast monsoon showers which give it a single monsoon season. Cherrapunji lies at an elevation of 1,370 m (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 the 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.

a gaint monolith at cherrapunji

It holds two Guinness world records:

• For receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year: 22,987 mm (904.9 inches) of rainfall between August 1860 and July 1861
• For receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single month: 9299.96 mm (366.14 inches) in July 1861.

Causes of High Rainfall

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 1370 m 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.

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.

The major part of the rainfall at Cherrapunjee can be attributed to the orographic features. When the clouds are blown over the hills from the south, they are funneled through the valley. The clouds strike Cherrapunjee in a perpendicular direction and the low flying clouds are pushed up the steep slopes. It is not surprising to find that the heaviest rainfalls occur when the winds blow directly on the Khasi Hills.

Bar Chart for Cherrapunji

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.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Cherrapunji had a population of 10,086. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Cherrapunji has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 74% and female literacy of 74%. 19% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Culture

The locals living in and around Cherrapunjee are known as Khasis. It is a matriarchal culture. After the wedding the husband goes to live with his wife's family and the children take on the surname of the mother.

Many tours run from Shillong, taking visitors to visit Cherrapunji for a day or two. The main method of accessing Cherrapunji proper is by taking a taxi from the Shillong bazaar taxi stand. It costs 900 to 1000 Indian Rupees to hire a taxi to take you to Cherrapunji.

The most convenient railhead and airport for most travellers would be Guwahati, in the state of Assam, where many trains and flights are bound from Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore. From Guwahati a shared taxi to Shillong costs 100 to 150 Indian Rupees per person and takes around 4 hours. From Shillong taxi stand a taxi may be hired for the remaining 3 hours to Cherrapunji.

On the way to Cherrapunji