Wettest March in 133 years

Wettest March in 133 years
From Kalyan Ray,DH News Service,New Delhi:
The intense and widespread rain over the southern peninsula in March is the highest rainfall recorded in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu since 1875.


Andhra Pradesh is the sole exception where the March 2008 rainfall is the second highest in the last 133 years. The highest was recorded way back in 1944.
The unusual 1875 March rainfall had preceded milestones such as the invention of telephone and electric light and the formation of the Indian National Congress.
This March, the meteorological divisions of coastal Karnataka and Konkan and Goa recorded more than 5000 per cent departure from normal rainfall.
Till March 26, coastal Karnataka received 184.26 mm of rain instead of the normal 3.1 mm, translating into 5883 per cent more rainfall. In the same period Konkan and Goa received 5471 per cent excess rain. While north interior Karnataka received 2807 per cent more rainfall, it was 1272 per cent more than normal in south interior Karnataka. The departure was the maximum in Karnataka.
In Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Laksha-dweep, this rainfall was 1000 per cent more than normal rainfall.
“The extended rainfall was caused by two specific climatic events that happened between March 13 and 18, and again between March 20 and 24,” Dr Ajit Tyagi, director-general, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) told Deccan Herald.
The intense rainfall, explained Dr Tyagi, began on March 13 when easterly winds from Bay of Bengal interacted with a low pressure zone at an altitude of five km over central India. The resulting extreme rainfall continued till March 18.
The subsequent spell was triggered by a low pressure belt extending from Gulf of Mannar to the southwest Bay. For reasons still not understood fully by scientists, this belt moved towards its west and interacted with the existing trough over central India bringing a fresh bout of rain.