Heavy rainfall event in Kalamassery in Kochi on 28 May was cloudburst, says IMD

Another weather station in Kalamassery, about a kilometre away, reported 100 mm of rain during the same period from 9.30 am to 10.30 am.

“Hence, we may consider this heavy rainfall event to be a cloud burst,” the IMD said.

An official confirmation has finally come from the part of the @IMDWeather that the heavy rainfall that lashed Thrikkakkara in Ernakulam, #Kerala on 28 May was indeed a #cloudburst.

On that day, the IMD’s automatic weather station recorded 100 mm of rain in just one hour.… pic.twitter.com/lCLlFQwdit

— South First (@TheSouthfirst) June 6, 2024

Historically, cloudbursts have been believed to occur in the hilly regions of the Western Ghats, particularly during active monsoon periods.

However, due to a lack of sufficient observatories in the past, many such events went undetected and unclassified.

The IMD noted a similar event on 26 March 2010, when 92 mm of rain was recorded in one hour by a Self-Recording Rain Gauge at the Meteorological Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.

Therefore, the recent cloudburst in Kalamassery is not the first in Kerala’s history, it added.

Also Read: Kochi witnesses extremely heavy rainfall

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