The city of Cherrapunji in India is regarded as the wettest place in the world, but ironically it is also dry for long parts of each winter.
The type of weather that this part of the world experiences is the monsoon season. Monsoons are seasonal winds that blow from one direction for about 6 months bringing with them torrential rain. For the other 6 months of the year, they blow from the opposite direction and the weather is dry.
The moist air is cooled as it blows over rising land leading to large amounts of rainfall. However due to the widespread destruction of the conifer forests that were once situated on the windward side of the mountain ranges, the heavy rain is not absorbed by the soil
Cherrapunji itself is 1290 metres above sea level and much of the rain runs off the mountains into the valleys below. Because the irrigation system in the town is insufficient to provide sufficient amounts of clean water during the dry season, its people have to travel several kilometres on foot to bathe and get their drinking water.
The type of weather that this part of the world experiences is the monsoon season. Monsoons are seasonal winds that blow from one direction for about 6 months bringing with them torrential rain. For the other 6 months of the year, they blow from the opposite direction and the weather is dry.
The moist air is cooled as it blows over rising land leading to large amounts of rainfall. However due to the widespread destruction of the conifer forests that were once situated on the windward side of the mountain ranges, the heavy rain is not absorbed by the soil
Cherrapunji itself is 1290 metres above sea level and much of the rain runs off the mountains into the valleys below. Because the irrigation system in the town is insufficient to provide sufficient amounts of clean water during the dry season, its people have to travel several kilometres on foot to bathe and get their drinking water.
