(Image source from: Cherrapunjee experiences intense heat!})
When at one side India's northern states are experiencing moment of melancholy, on the contrary Cherrapunjee renamed as Sohra known as one of the wettest places on earth being naturally in the habitation of clouds in Meghalaya is experiencing unbearable hot beyond 28 degrees Celsius! Furthermore, global warming has been emphasized to be the cause of this scenario as stressed by the residents of the hilltop in northeastern India. They mentioned that their heavenly abode is hotter as well as drier than ever before.
Merilang Syiem, a resident expressed that Sohra has been burning hot for months. Earlier they used umbrellas only to protect themselves from the rains, yet these days we will find everyone in this town carrying an umbrella to protect them from the scorching sun. Syiem furthered saying people are not just using umbrellas but in some houses they have also started using fans to gain relief from the heat. Cherrapunjee is on the edge of a plateau on the southern slopes in the East Khasi Hills district. Situated at 1,290 metres above sea level and 56km from state capital Shillong, it is known to receive the highest rainfall in the world. This town records an average rainfall of 12,000mm a year, with the maximum occurring over the southern slopes of the Khasi Hills. The highest recorded total annual rainfall was 24,555mm in 1974.
Lastborn Kharkongor expressed yet that will never happen again, although they still get much rain during the monsoon. On the contrary, initially they experienced rains there even during the winter and that is not happening any more. Heavy rains have created rare bio-diverse vegetation there at the same time made the town a high point of tourism in the state. An India Metrological Department official said the mercury has been on the elevation as well was at 28.3 degree Celsius on June 12.
Sunit Das, a meteorologist in the Regional Meteorological Centre, Guwahati explained that it is a prominent fact that the temperature at Cherrapunjee was beyond normal [average] for the last few days. This may be regarded as resulting from a specified cause to the weak monsoon activity that have been widespread over their region for the last few days. The average temperature in Cherrapunjee in June is 23 degrees Celsius. When they talk about the rainfall, from June 1 till today [June 18], Cherrapunjee received 618.8mm of rainfall against its normal [average] 1,509.2 mm. In actuality, during the furtherance phase of southwest monsoon, sometimes the rainfall activity appears to be repressed over their region. Das was nevertheless expressing hope of the monsoon picking up by Thursday.
(AW:Samrat Biswas)
