Friday, November 09, 2007

World Sunlight Map



This image is updated on a hourly basis, the cloud cover shown is taken from latest satellite pics.

Chennai records for NorthEast Monsoon

NORTHEAST MONSOON RAINFALL OVER CHENNAI

YEAR NUNGAMBAKKAM (NORMAL 75 CM) MINAMBAKKAM (NORMAL 77CM)
1990 97 77
1991 79 75
1992 73 75
1993 90 104
1994 118 115
1995 53 44
1996 126 113
1997 157 144
1998 72 80
1999 53 52
2000 40 50
2001 108 97
2002 99 83
2003 31 38
2004 57 62
2005 211 186
2006 89 96

What I love about the monsoons....

The monsoon always brings back a flood of memories of monsoons past. And so it was this time as well, bringing to mind the things one loved about this season in Chennai:
• Going to sleep with the sound of the wind and rain soothing you
• Feeling the spray of heavy rain in your face as you stand in the doorway and watch it come down
• Curling up in bed with a good book and a glass of hot chocolate on Sunday afternoons
• Hot tea and samosas at tea time on a rainy day
• Watching the rain dance on top of the parapet wall before disappearing in spray
• Cycling in the rain
• Rain holidays
• Playing a game of 'holly golly' in the rain
• Roiling cloudscapes

From http://chennai.metblogs.com

Northeast monsoon in Vietnam and Thailand

Fall is the time in which the Northeast Monsoon returns to South and Southeast Asia following a summer hiatus. Onset of prevailing northeasterly winds is often marked by extreme cloudbursts wherever such wind would blow, at once, from water to land and up slope. Such a setting can be found in Vietnam as well as the eastern Malay Peninsula, which is shared by Thailand and Malaysia. This week, the Thailand share of the Peninsula has been hammered by inundating outbursts of rain. One hard-hit town is Hakhon Si Thammarat, where the aggregate of rainfall since Sunday was 21.8 inches (55 cms) as of Thursday night, local time. Still high, but less extreme, was the fall of 11.2 inches (28 cms) on the island of Ko Samui. The 21.8 inches of rain almost exactly matches the normal monthly rainfall for Nakhon Si Thammarat.