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Another feather in Sohra’s cap

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SHILLONG: Sohra (Cherrapunjee) holds a new record for the highest rainfall in 48 hours, according to the panel of Geneva based World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

A statement posted at the website of WMO on April 4 said that the “panel has concluded that Cherrapunjee in India now holds the world record for two-day (48-hour) rainfall, with 2 493 millimeters (98.15 inches) recorded on 15-16 June 1995”.

According to the statement, this rainfall total (2493 millimeters) exceeds the previous world 48-hour rainfall record of 2 467mm (97.1″) associated with the passage of a tropical cyclone over the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion (France) in April 1958.

La Réunion, which is frequently hit by tropic cyclones and receives large amounts of rainfall over its mountains, 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 statement added.

According to the statement, WMO Commission of Climatology international panel of experts reached its decision following an in-depth investigation of Cherrapunjee rainfall event for it to be included in the WMO World Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes, the official international listing of weather and climate extremes. “The new 48-hour record is particularly noteworthy as it reaffirms Cherrapunjee as one of the wettest places on Earth”, the panel said, adding that it complements Cherrapunji’s long-held record rainfall for a 12-month (one-year) period, with 26470 mm (86 feet 10 inches) of rain from August 1860 to July 1861.

It also supplants a two-day rainfall record associated with a tropical cyclone. In contrast to other short-term rainfall records, Cherrapunjee’s extensive rains are the result of summer monsoon depressions interacting with its mountainous topography. Cherrapunjee situated on a plateau at an average elevation of 1 484 metres (4 869 ft), facing the plains of Bangladesh, the panel observed.

As per the official statement, the investigation was conducted at the request, and with the support, of the India Meteorological Department, and was based on post-event data analysis. The investigating committee was composed of climate experts from Argentina, Columbia, France, Germany, India, Morocco, Spain and the United Kingdom.

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