Steady rise in heavy rainfall events during 3 last years: Harsh Vardhan

There has been a steady rise in the number of heavy rainfall events during the last three years, Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.

He said studies show that the frequency of severe cyclones in the Arabian Sea has increased in recent years.

Citing data, the minister said 1,824 weather stations reported very heavy rainfall from June to September in 2017 while 261 stations recorded extremely heavy rainfall. In 2018, as many as 2,181 weather stations saw very heavy rainfall and 321 recorded extremely heavy rainfall.

In 2019, Vardhan said, 3,056 weather stations recorded very heavy rainfall while 554 saw extremely heavy rainfall.

The data shows that there is a steady increase in the number of heavy rainfall events during the last three years, Vardhan said.

The frequency of cyclones too has seen a rise, he noted.

In 2017, three cyclones -- one in the Arabian Sea and two in the Bay of Bengal -- formed, of which two had the intensity of severe cyclones or more.

The year after, seven cyclones developed -- four in Bay of Bengal and three in Arabian Sea -- of which six had the intensity of severe cyclones or more.

In 2019, eight cyclones formed -- five in Arabian Sea and three in the Bay of Bengal. Of these eight cyclones, six had the intensity of severe cyclones or more.

Based on the statistics during 1891-2017, on average five cyclones develop over the north Indian Ocean in a year with four developing over Bay of Bengal and one over Arabian Sea.

However, in the recent past an increase in frequency had been observed in formation of cyclones in the north Indian Ocean. Also, studies show an increase in frequency of severe cyclones over Arabian Sea in recent years, Vardhan said.