The Telugu states were drenched in heavy rains. According to the Water Resources Information and Management System under the Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Department, Vijayawada city received 136 mm (mm) of rain on August 31 and Ibrahimpatnam received 120 mm of rain.
But how do you measure exactly 136 mm of rainfall and 120 mm of rainfall? On what basis are these calculations made? How is the actual rainfall measured?
Also what is moderate rain, heavy rain, heavy rain, torrential rain? What is the basis for their classification? How much rain does it cause to be moderate rain? How much rain does it take to say kumbhavrishti? Let’s learn about things like this in detail.
for thousands of years.
It would be a mistake to think that estimates of rainfall are known only to the modern world. Their origins are dated to BC. In a report titled ‘Operating Procedure Hydrometrological Services India’, the IMD noted how rainfall was predicted at that time, claiming that 3,000 were there earlier.
“The Chandoya Upanishad, written 3000 years ago, mentions the structure of clouds, the rains, and the seasons formed in the course of the earth’s rotation around the sun.”
“A perusal of the ‘Brihat Samhita’ written by Varahamihira around 500 A.D. shows that the then people had a clear understanding of the weather.
Kautilya’s Arthashastra also mentions methods of measuring rainfall. In ‘Meghdoot’ written by Kalidasa, however, there are also predictions as to when the monsoon will begin in central India. It was written in the seventh century. It also mentions the onset of the monsoon.”
Modern in the 17th century.
The foundations for the modern rainfall forecasts that we are currently receiving from the IMD were laid in the 17th century.
With the invention of the thermometer and barometer, as well as an understanding of the state of the gases in the atmosphere, better estimates have become available to us.
Some of the oldest weather stations in the world are also located in India.
For example, in Calcutta in 1785 and in Madras in 1796, the East India Company established weather stations. The IMD was established in 1875.
