ON SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERE RAINSTORMS OF INDIA

Detailed examination of daily rainfall data for India (and other relev ant publications regarding severe rainstorms) show that during the las t 110 years, the Indian region recorded 231 severe rainstorms. Of thes e, 27 were of 2-day duration and the rest (204) were of 3-day duration . Within a rainstorm, maximum rain fell on the 2nd day on 63% of occas ions. It was also observed that the average raindepths obtained from s low moving rainstorms were greater in magnitude than those of fast mov ing rainstorms. All these rainstorms, during their movement through th e country, had their rain centres at about 308 locations. This study h as shown that only 19 locations recorded severe rainstorm centres on f ive or more occasions. Maximum number of rain centres recorded for one location was 13.