Characteristics of S-W and N-E monsoon rainfall over Salem

Abstract

The study of rainfall during various seasons in Salem (11^o40’9.97’’N, 78^o8’27.11”E), a town in southern India has been reported in the present paper. The variability has also been discussed in terms of the accumulated rainfall (R), the number of hours of rainfall (RH) and the average rainfall (avg), as well as the percentage occurrence of very low, low, moderate, heavy, very heavy and extreme rainfall in these seasons. A particular effort has been made to determine the effect of El Nino and La Nina on patterns of rainfall. The meteorological parameters, such as cloud liquid water (CLW), precipitation water (PW) and latent heat (LH) have also been determined for various seasons. The study shows that there exists a significant degree of correlation between rainfall and these meteorological parameters. A functional relationship has also been established between the intensity of convective rainfall and CLW, PW and LH.