A comparison of two heavy rainfall events in India: Bombay, 24 July 1989, and Cherrapunji, 12 June 1997

This paper aims to compare two weather events that took place during the Indian summer monsoons of 1989 and 1997. The two events were experienced first-hand by the authors and are shown to exhibit some similarities, such as their close association with low pressure and tropospheric air instability during the summer monsoon season, and the magnitude and intensity of the rainfall on the two occasions. The two rainfall episodes were very different, however, in the detail of their precipitation mechanisms and in the impact that the events had on the local community. The first event was an extremely vigorous tropical storm which hit the coast of Maharashtra on 24 July 1989 with hurricane force winds and torrential rain. The second event, yielding a similar daily rainfall total to the first, took place on 12 June 1997 when a typical Assam deluge was observed and its features were noted. Events at Bombay made headline news, not only in India but also abroad; events at Cherrapunji passed by almost unnoticed with the expectation that they would be repeated many times each year.