KOCHI: Kerala has been witnessing a significant increase in the frequency of convective storms in the month of May prior to the onset of southwest monsoon and the border areas of Idukki and Kottayam have become hotspots of lightning impacts, says a study by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat).
The research work titled ‘Identifying the hotspot regions of emerging triple risk due to pre-monsoon convective storms over Kerala published in the science magazine Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk recently, says the circumstances in southern Kerala are worsening, with the possibility of frequent flash floods in coastal and midland areas and landslides in the Western Ghats regions.
Convective storms (CS) represent a significant weather phenomenon that triggers extreme rainfall, which can result in flash floods, landslips, lightning and strong wind gusts. Kerala experiences the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the peninsula, with an annual occurrence of 60–80 days, says Cusat Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research director S Abhilash.
Despite the small area of impact, isolated CS can inflict significant damage.