Meghalaya

Cherrapunji is a town in Meghalaya, India which is credited as being one of the world's wettest places. It holds two Guinness world records: Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Meghalaya (मेघालय in Devanāgarī) is a small state in north-eastern India. ... Suresh Joachim, minutes away from breaking the ironing world record at 55 hours and 5 minutes, at Shoppers World, Brampton. ...

• For receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year: 22,987 mm (904.9973 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 in) in July 1861.

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)^[1], and Mount Waiʻaleʻale on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, whose average is 11,684 mm (460 in). A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Mawsynram is a village in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya state in north-eastern India, 56 kilometers from Shillong. ... Mount Wai‘ale‘ale (Hawaiian for rippling waters), elevation 5,208 ft (1,578 m), is the second highest point on the island of Kaua‘i in the Hawaiian Islands. ... Kauai (usually called Kauai outside the Hawaiian Islands) is the oldest and fourth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands, having an area of 1,446 km² . Known also as the Garden Isle, Kauai lies 105 miles (170 kilometers) across the Kauai Channel, northwest of Oahu. ...

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. Monsoon in the Vindhya, a mountain chain in central India A monsoon is a wind pattern that reverses direction on a seasonal basis. ... The metre, or meter, is a measure of length. ... The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. ... Windward is the side of a boat into which the wind is blowing. ... A map showing the location of the Bay of Bengal. ... The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) is a major river in northern India. ... Orography is the average height of land, measured in geopotential meters, over a certain domain. ...

In the winter months it receives the northeast monsoon showers which travel down the Brahmaputra valley. The Brahmaputra is one of the major rivers of Asia. ...

The original name for this town was Sohra, pronounced as Churra by the British before morphing into the present one. Amazingly, despite perennial rain, Cherrapunji faces acute water shortage and the inhabitants often have to trek for miles to obtain drinking water. Irrigation is also hampered due to excessive rain washing away the top soil as a result of human encroachment in the forests.

References

1. ↑  Guinness World Records 2005; pg-51 ISBN 0-85112-192-6 ; [2], [3]
2. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001431.html
3. http://fmd.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~flood/data/worldrec.html
4. http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554737/Rain.html
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2977169.stm

External links

• Tourism page