Rainfall over Bombay associated with cyclonic storms striking Saurashtra coast

Abstract

Normally heavy rain is expected over the field of depressions and cyclonic storms. On this basis, it is comparatively easy to issue heavy rainfall warnings sufficiently in advance, whenever disturbances in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal show a tendency to move towards the coast. It was observed by Mukherjee, et el. (1966) that cyclonic disturbances striking south Tamil Nadu coast during October, bring adequate supply of moisture to cause heavy rainfall in far away coastal Andhra Pradesh. Applying the same analogy, this paper tests the theory whether the cyclonic storms striking Saurashtra coast can cause heavy rainfall in Bombay. It is found that during the last 85 years, seven cyclonic storms struck Saurashtra crest during the pre-monsoon months April and May and the post-monsoon months October and November. All of them caused good rainfall over Bombay, This has been tested for Bombay due to its importance as a metropolis. The results were always found to be positive. The phenomenon has been explained taking into consideration the characteristics of air flow connected with these systems.