MARI Rain Monitoring

 Why Measure Rain? 

Meteorology is of crucial important over Keralam and the Lakshadweep (100,000 islands, 400km off Keralam coast). This region gets the first full force of the annual Southwest Monsoon in June-August. Keralam is a narrow strip (600+km long, 200km wide) of fertile tropical coastline, bordered by the steep Western Ghats, rising all the way from south to the north, with the only break being the Palakkad Gap. Monsoon clouds (generally below 4000m) stopped by the 4000m+ Ghats, brings very heavy, sustained rain that quickly saturates soil and fills fields and wells within the first weeks of June. Heavy rain in the Ghats after that, mean floods 8 hours later in the valleys and plain. 

"Global Warming" means warmer ocean temperatures, more evaporation feeding Atmospheric Rivers, and increasingly frequent Extreme Rain Events (ERE, Malayalis may call it "Pe-Mari" as in Rabid Rain)  over Keralam and neighboring south Karnataka (the Coorg region). 

In 2018, sustained rain in the first weeks of August, when dam managers were trying to store water for the summer, filled dams above the Red Alert levels. Three days of 300mm+ daily rainfall, plus even heavier rain in the Ghats watershed, forced dams to open, to prevent catastrophic bursting. The result was the "Pralayam" (Deluge), immersing much of urban Central Keralam, the Periyar Valley, to above first-floor levels.  

In 2024, after an ERE, an entire mountainside collapsed and accelerated down the valley, wiping out villages and the township of Chooralmala (rattan-hill) causing a still-unknown number of deaths. 

These events - and others less in the news, triggered interest in weather. 

Keralam is blessed by Nature. The last real Cyclonic Storm was in 1900. There is no risk of snow, ice, hail, or tornados, the region is so far not prone to earthquakes. Summer temperatures rise these days past 35 Celsius, and high humidity makes that feel like 40+. Still nothing compared to the fatal dry heat of Eastern and North India. People drive all day into the Ghats to see Fog - none of the annual fog disaster that plagues the Ganga Plains. There is plenty of water if properly used. 

So RAIN is the only result that is  of real  interest. After mid-May, the main topic of conversation switches from the Heat and Humidity - to Rain. 

MARI. Now you can do more than talk: You can be THE Expert on it, measuring it  yourself,  and seeing your data used to build the daily averages. Initially we will report only District Averages, then as numbers rise, we can report more detail. 

What is the point? Well.. 

• The Result of all those Meteorological Prediction Computer Codes is: "Will it rain tomorrow, when and how much". You are generating the RESULT. You can judge how accurate those predictions are, and help improve them. 

• As we get more data, you (we) will generate our own "feel" for when it will rain, how much rain varies by location, and many other things. 

• Perhaps - it is up to you - our data will be good enough and fast enough to generate at least a "feel", perhaps quantitative warnings, of impending disaster. 

Doesn't the Government do this already? 

In India the Government is YOU. India and Keralam in particular, are scrambling to increase accuracy and resolution of meteorology. We are doing what we can to help. 

Keralam land area is over 36,000 square kilometers. As of a year ago, there were 256 Automated Weather Stations (AWS) sanctioned (allowed) for Keralam from the Central Govt. Keralam had authorized acquisition of 100 plots, each 100 sq.m in area, to install AWS. We assume that all 100 AWS were installed, and that all are operating. In addition, the 2018 floods brought some interest, which turned into urgency after the 2024 ChooralMala disaster. The District Collector of Ernakulam, worst-hit in the 2018 floods, and a Professor from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) conducted a well-publicized Function, also attended by a senior official from Wayanad Dt ( containing ChooralMala). They announced a MultiPhase Community Rain Measurement project, aiming to install 256 gauges.  Phase 1 was to install 100, and be completed by end of 2025. 

Other community efforts have received Funding from the United Nations, specifically through the UNICEF (Children's Emergency Fund) citing the effect of Climate Change on children. They have also started efforts to measure rain locally, as well local topology to help in flood prediction. 

Recently the Indian Meteorological Department has announced several steps. One effort is to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help improve meterological prediction. Our guess is that this means using data - for which one has to collect data to augment what can be learned from historical data sets. One is to install a Doppler Weather Radar in Wayanad Dt., through the work of  Govt. Engineering Colleges in the district. Weather radar is ground-based, but  high-altitude locations allow reach to a wider horizon than similar systems installed at sea level. 

We welcome all these - and hope we can include data and predictions that become available from them. As for our data posted here, it is Open Domain. No permission needed to download and use what we post. Hopefully you will acknowledge the source, so that more people contribute data. Thank you.