IMD Confirms Cloudburst Behind Heavy Rainfall in Kalamassery on May 28
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has confirmed that the heavy rainfall event in Kalamassery near Kochi on May 28 was a cloudburst. The intense rainfall, which lasted for an hour, caused significant flooding and disrupted life in the industrial area of Kerala.
According to the IMD, the Automatic Weather Station at the Advanced Center for Atmospheric Radar Research (ACARR) on the CUSAT campus in Thrikkakara recorded 103 mm of rain in just one hour. Another weather station in Kalamassery, about a kilometer away, reported 100 mm of rain during the same period from 9.30 AM to 10.30 AM. Based on these measurements, the IMD classified the event as a cloudburst.
Historically, cloudbursts have been more commonly associated with the hilly regions of the Western Ghats, especially during active monsoon periods. However, due to the lack of sufficient observatories in the past, many such events went undetected and unclassified.
The IMD referenced a similar event on March 26, 2010, when 92 mm of rain was recorded in one hour by a Self-Recording Rain Gauge at the Meteorological Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. Therefore, the recent cloudburst in Kalamassery is not the first in Kerala’s history.
