How a farmer ‘rainman’ traced downpours for over 40 years

Measuring rain in the backyard began as a hobby for PGSN Prasad of Baalila village (around 80 km from Mangaluru) in 1976. Even after 40 years, the data recorded is being coveted by fellow villagers and from outside.

Prasad recounted to BusinessLine how would keenly observe his father making entries of daily weather patterns in his diary without fail.

He would also listen in to the daily updates of rainfall data on All India Radio.

No wonder then Prasad, who had completed 10th standard, he developed an interest in the monsoon phenmenon.

He had also heard about coffee plantations in the nearby Kodagu district keeping rainfall statistics for several decades.

Prasad says his village witnessed an average rainfall of 5,048 mm during 1976-85. However, this figure has not crossed 4,500 mm during the three decades that followed.

The average rainfall stood at 4,054 mm during 1986-95; 4,359 mm in 1996-2005; and 4,497 mm in 2006-2015.

Prasad said he has been sharing details of rainfall figures with other farmers. In fact, his daily and monthly rainfall updates in a WhatsApp group of arecanut growers is a most sought after data.

Considering the demand for rainfall distribution details based on different ‘nakshatrams’ (star positions) of the Hindu almanac called ‘panchangam’, he also gives regular updates at the end of each ‘nakshatram’ period on the WhatsApp group.

In fact, the eighties witnessed the highest and lowest annual rainfall figures in his village. After recording a peak of 6,443 mm in 1980, it touched the lowest of 2,732 mm in 1987.

The highest rainfall for a single day was recorded on August 1, 1982. On that day, he recorded a maximum of 292 mm in his backyard. “It was a record for our village. The rainfall was much less in June during some years,” he said.

Analysing the trends of four decades, Prasad said his village gets on average 165 rain days in a year. However, it went up to 201 days in 1978 and came down to 144 days in 1986.

According to him, the South-West monsoon made an entry to his village as early as May 20 in 1,999. In 1983, it made a late entry on June 16. In 1977, he recorded the highest pre-monsoon rainfall figures of 873 mm. It reached the lowest of 163 mm in 1986.

The average South-West monsoon figures stood at 3,331.3 mm during 1976-2015. In the case of North-East monsoon, there was a maximum rainfall of 1,475 mm during 1976 and a lowest of 373 mm in 1982.

Quoting an unusual rainfall of 126 mm in a span of two hours between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on February 19, 1977, he said he had not witnessed so much of rainfall in February till then.

Prasad said many farmers have sought details on setting up rain gauges in their houses. A wide network of such rain gauges by farmers will help improve data collection on rainfall figures in each village, he said.