Cherrapunji

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Cherrapunji
Cherrapunji (India)
Red pog.svg
State : IndiaIndia India
State : Meghalaya
District : East Khasi Hills
Location : 25 ° 18 ′  N , 91 ° 42 ′  E Coordinates: 25 ° 18 ′  N , 91 ° 42 ′  E
Height : 1484 m
Residents : 11,722 (2011)
Tourist sign pointing to the place, with information on the average annual rainfall and advertising for a local hotel
Tourist sign pointing to the place, with information on the average annual rainfall and advertising for a local hotel

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Cherrapunji is a small town in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya with almost 12,000 inhabitants (as of 2011), who mainly belong to the indigenous people of the Khasi . The place is located in the eastern Khasi Mountains on the border with Bangladesh and is one of the rainiest on earth. Because the Khasi are mostly Christian, the population of Cherrapunji consists of 70% Christians, but only 4% Hindus and 1% Muslim.

Surname

The original name of the city was Schohra , which was pronounced "Churra" by the British before changing to Cherrapunji . Schohra or Sohra is still in use locally . The place is the seat of one of the tribal principalities of the Khasi (Hima Syiem Sohra) and a traditional market place with good connections to Bengal .

climate

According to the Guinness Book of Records , Cherrapunji holds two world records for rainfall :

  1. In July 1861, the greatest amount of precipitation fell in a single month: 9299.96 mm.
  2. On June 15 and 16, 1995, 2,493 mm fell within 48 hours.

Other sources indicate that the highest amount of precipitation fell here in a single year: 26,461 mm (August 1, 1860 to July 31, 1861).

The average annual rainfall in Cherrapunji is 11,430 mm. This puts the place in third place behind the village of Mawsynram (16 km west with 11,873 mm) and the mountain Waiʻaleʻale on the Pacific island of Kauaʻi ( Hawaii ) with a rain average of 11,684 mm.

Cherrapunji receives precipitation from both the southwest and northeast monsoons , which means that there is only one continuous monsoon season. The place is at an altitude of 1484  m on the windward side of the Khasi Mountains in the branch of the southwest monsoon, which enters India via the Bay of Bengal and the Ganges Delta . The clouds rise here on the mountains, cool down and have to give off their moisture for orographic reasons. This happens every year between June and September.

In the winter months, the rainfall of the northeast monsoons falls, which comes down the valley of Brahmaputra .

Amazingly, despite the constant rain, there is also a lack of water in Cherrapunji, and the residents often have to walk for miles to get drinking water. The irrigation is hampered by the excessive rains, because the top layers of soil are washed away ( soil erosion , soil degradation ) after the forests have been destroyed by human intervention larger parts. Two thirds of the entire ecoregion in and around Meghalaya was cleared, mainly for slash and burn (see biodiversity hotspot Indo-Myanmar ).

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Cherrapunji
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 15.8 16.8 20.4 21.8 22.3 22.2 22.4 22.5 23.0 22.2 19.7 16.8 O 20.5
Min. Temperature (° C) 7.8 9.2 12.7 14.9 16.1 18.0 18.5 18.5 18.1 15.8 12.2 8.9 O 14.2
Precipitation ( mm ) 20th 41 179 605 1,705 2,875 2,455 1,827 1,231 449 47 5 Σ 11,439
Humidity ( % ) 70 69 70 82 86 92 95 92 90 81 73 72 O 81.1
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
15.8
7.8
16.8
9.2
20.4
12.7
21.8
14.9
22.3
16.1
22.2
18.0
22.4
18.5
22.5
18.5
23.0
18.1
22.2
15.8
19.7
12.2
16.8
8.9
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		20th
41
179
605
1,705
2,875
2,455
1,827
1,231
449
47
5
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: wetterkontor.de

literature

Web links

Commons : Cherrapunji  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Government document: Cherrapunjee Population Census 2011. Accessed October 1, 2018.
  2. ↑ Government document: Cherrapunjee Population Census 2011. Accessed October 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ Record entry : Greatest monthly rainfall. In: GuinnessWorldrecords.com . Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  4. ↑ Record entry : Greatest rainfall in 48 hours. In: GuinnessWorldrecords.de . Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  5. ↑ Entry: Precipitation. (No longer available online.) University of Freiburg, 2003, archived from the original on February 18, 2009 ; accessed on October 1, 2018 : “Records: Annual rainfall: 26,461 mm (Cherrapunji, East India); Monthly rainfall: 9,300 mm (at the foot of the Himalayas), July 1861 "
  6. ↑ Overview: Weather records. (No longer available online.) Wupper Association for Water, Humans and Environment, 2009, archived from the original on November 8, 2009 ; accessed on October 1, 2018 .