Showing posts with label Meteorology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meteorology. Show all posts

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Rainfall Check – 5 (July 2017)

Previous articles:-


The month of July 2017 begins with 2 positive features and one negative feature, all of whom have long term and long range applications.

The foremost  positive feature or rather redeeming feature is that the forward march of the fiery planet, Mars, was put under check for the first time after nearly 10 months (since 25th  August 2016) by a meekly Mercury just a couple of days ago, on 28th June, 2017. For these 10 months a dry and dragging force was associated with Mars in upsetting the rainfall expectation and realisation. That is now removed, though the final easing of conditions would begin from 29th July when Sun overtakes Mars.

The 2nd positive feature is that Sun, Mars and Saturn are going to be in watery signs during the 2nd half of the month when Sun enters Cancer on 16th July. This position keeps them in alternate and odd signs to each other. This positional relationship between these 3 planets was the same as how it was during Chennai floods in Nov- Dec 2015. This time the location of rainfall is North India as Cancer and Scorpio occupied by them indicate North.

In addition to this, from 4th July onwards Saturn and Jupiter are going to be in watery Navamsa throughout the month of July and frequently joined with other planets such as Sun, Mars and Mercury. All through that time, Venus and Rahu are going to be in fixed signs. This combo package is supposed to bring in copious rainfall in Northern parts of India as watery signs stand for Northern direction.

The only depreesing feature throughout this month is that Venus and Mercury are moving away from each other throughout this month. The distance between them ranges from 55 degrees on 1st July to 66 degrees on 31st July.

Whenever these two planets are nearer to each other, there will be copious and continuous rainfall. When they are conjunct, the rainfall will be heavy and mostly triggered by cyclones. But this widening gap between them is a worrisome feature. This gap keeps increasing till 27th August.

So we can expect the rainfall for July to be pulled by two extreme features. This being the 2nd year of my personal observation of weather on a daily basis, the continued presence of Saturn and Jupiter in watery Navamsa and the presence of Saturn, Mars, Sun and Mercury in watery signs is something I am observing for the first time  in the background of absence of Mercury- Venus closeness.

In the past, Mercury- Venus closeness was present in most of the instances of rainfall.  Now in the absence of this feature, I am not able to rule out rainfall with so many planets getting associated with watery signs. Any success of rainfall in this month must be attributed to the planets in watery signs, and particularly to Sun, Mars and Saturn in watery signs that are in odd numbers to each other. Lack of rainfall would mean that Mercury- Venus closeness is a must for good rainfall.

The following table reveals the dominance of the planets in watery signs.


Date
Astrological features
Event
Location
Spoilers, if any
1
July 1
Mercury continues in combustion
Rainfall
West India
(Gemini)
Mars in the lead.

Ven- Sat opposition
2
July 1
Saturn in watery sign in Rasi and Navamsa
Rainfall
North India.
(Scorpio, Pisces)
Mars in the lead.

Ven- Sat opposition
3
July 4
Mercury comes out of combustion.
+
Mercury rises in the west.
+
Mer, Jup, Sat and Sun in watery Navamsa.  
Spurt in Rainfall
West and North India
Same as above.
4
July 6
Mer, Sat, Moon in watery signs +
Ven and Rahu in fixed signs.
+
Jup, Sat and Ven in watery Navamsa
Rainfall
North India (Mer in cancer & Sat in Scorpio),

Parts of East India (Rahu in Leo)

Parts of South India (Ven in Taurus)
Same as above
5
July 11
Mars enters cancer (watery sign).

Mer, Mars & Sat in watery signs,
+
Moon in Amirtha Nadi (Sravana)
+
Mer, Mars, Sat, Jup and Moon in watery Navamsas.
Rainfall


North India in the Gangetic plain
Same as above.
6
July 13, 14, 15
Sat, Mer, Mars in watery signs.
+
Moon conjunct with Ketu. Then enters watery sign.
+
Ven, Rahu in fixed signs.
+
Sat, Mars, Jup in watery Navamsas
Rainfall
North and North west India.
Gangetic plains.
Same as above.
7
July 16
Sun enters cancer.

Sun, Mars and Saturn in watery signs and in odd signs to each other with Moon in watery sign, in 5th and 9th signs from them.
+
Sun, Mars, Sat and Jup in watery Navamsa

Heavy rainfall.
North and east India.
Same as above
8
July 21
Mercury enters Leo to join with Rahu.

Ven, Mer, Rah in fixed signs while Sat, Mars and Sun are in watery and odd signs to each other
Rainfall
North and East India
Same as above.
9
July 23, 24, 25
Sat, Sun and Mars in watery signs and in odd signs to each other. Moon joins them.
+
Sat and Jup in watery Navamsas.
Rainfall
North India
Same as above.
10
July 26, 27 and 28
Sun in deep conjunction with Mars

Sun, Mars and sat in alternating and watery signs.
+
Moon joins Rahu
Rainfall
North India
Same as above
11
July 26
Venus enters next sign, Gemini.
+
Comes out of opposition to Saturn
Rainfall
West, North West India
Same as above
12
July 29
Sun overtakes Mars for the first time after11months  
Reduction in heat conditions in general
North India



Outlook for Chennai.

The Chennai scenario is depressing. The local Garbottam hinting at rains on 29th and 30th June did not materialise, though there were drizzles in some parts of Chennai on 30th June. One reason could be the lack of support from planetary combinations.  Presently the planetary combinations at Gemini are active in giving rainfall. Gemini signifies west and is occupied by Mercury which was in combustion right from 9th June. When Mercury entered Sowmya Nadi (Arudra star) on 21st June, rainfall picked up in the western section of India. This combustion ends on 4th July. Other features are given in the above table.

When a local Garbottam fails to give expected rainfall in a place due to some reason, it would anyway give rainfall that is due in the next Garbottam date but accompanied with gusty winds or hails.  This was noticed on 27th June when parts of Chennai experienced rainfall accompanied with heavy winds. The previous day was supposed to have experienced some rainfall but that rainfall did not materialise. The very next day also was in the Garbottam radar. It rained then but accompanied with gusty winds. By 27th June, planetary support for rainfall ended for Chennai.

The last 3 days of June (28th, 29th and 30th) also were supported by local Garbottam. I have added an update on the reality check at the end of the article on June Rainfall (Read here). The next rainfall date is likely to be gusty. July 1st happens to be such a date as it is supported by local Garbottam. The corresponding Garbottam dates were 20th and 21st January 2017.

One can see the rain bands at the present times (on 30th June) in North and west India corresponding to the cloud movement on 20th and 21st January (satellite pictures below). The only disappointment is Chennai. A plausible explanation for this is the lack of support from planetary combinations. Only Western section is in the planetary line of rainfall. Added to this is the dragging effect by the absence of Mercury- Venus closeness.




The rainfall realisation time for these two dates comes at night / evening / sun set on 1st July.
The next probable date is July 6th which corresponds to 26th January (satellite picture below). On that date it rained in many places in Chennai but not in may place. We have to wait and see if it rains on that date.


One can see the cloud cover on 26th January in North and North West India. It coincides with current position of planets in watery signs that signify North.

Now let’s take a look at the Garbottam chart for Chennai for July.


 July is not at all promising for the parched Chennai!


Updated on 6th August 2017:-

Final Rainfall tally for July 2017
First 2 columns pertain to Garbottam observation. 
In the last column marked 7, the actual rainfall realization is marked in blue.
The red one is failure of expected rainfall. 






























































































Important observations and learnings are:- 

# The first rain expected on July 1st came on July 3rd. Upon checking, the thithi is split at the time of garbottam. So pinpointing the date becomes messy. For example assume that there was garbottam between 8 AM and Noon on a day. During garbottam a thithi may end and another may begin. Assume that Navami ends and Dasami begins. So it must rain at the night of both Navami and Dasami. On the rainfall realization time, this would be split into two days as the night time of Dasami would come nearly 24 hours after night time of Navami. 

# Another problem in the ascertaining the thithi, particularly during Garbottam, is the variations between Panchangs on duration of a thithi. Thithi at Garbottam is very important and must be accurate to decide on the rainfall thithi. So this kind of errors can be seen. 

# Based on this when rainfall realization occurs a day after the garbottam thithi, it might be due to this error in thithi duration.

# When it occurs 2 days after the garbottam, division of a thithi at the time of garbottam can be noticed/ The failure of rainfall on 1st July and its arrival on 3rd July come under this category.

# Rainfall between 6th to 9th come under this category. The rainfall on 12th also come under this category. 

# The drizzles on 18th and 19th are associated with garbottam that was noticed a month later. 

The is due to the jumping of months - like in adhik masa.

Normally two lunar phases come one after the other in a solar month (the counting of dates for rainfall is done on the basis of solar months)

At times, one lunar phase comes almost exactly in the middle of the solar month and the other comes in two halves in the beginning and end of the month.

For example assume that 2nd half of waxing phase comes in the first week of a solar month. This is followed by a full waning phase. This is followed by the 1st half of the next waxing phase in the last week of the solar month. The dates based on thithis of the lunar phase gets jumbled in Gregorian calendar . 

This happened in July rainfall period. Take a look at July 19th. 
The corresponding Garbottam was on Feb 8th which was a dry day. So I didn't expect any rainfall on 19th July. But it drizzled in my location and reasonably well in some parts of Chennai on 18th and 19th July. 

While preparing August chart, I noticed., the date March 8th tallies with previous phase, that is in the previous part of the month. This shows that we have to check the next month's garbottam dates also for the previous month's rainfall.

July 19th got rains on that basis. The thithi conjunction resulted in the rainfall splitting into 2 days. 

The next date of rainfall was July 29th.
Rainfall of July 29th in my place has no garbottam to back up.
But it was an important date as Sun crossed Mars on that date.
Mars was in the forefront for nearly a year.
When Sun was nearing Mars there was a sudden spurt in temperature. 
But at the time of Sun taking over Mars it rained. 

But on that day, the "Kaappu-kattal" ceremony in a Mariamman temple in my locality was performed to initiate a Utsav for Amman. The local belief is that it will rain on the day of Kappu-kattal. Homas, chantings and unknown causes are also responsible for unexpected rains (July 29th rain was unexpected as there was no support by garbottam, but Moon - Jupiter conjunction was there at the time of rainfall).

The general belief in our country is that "nallaar oruvar uLarEl, avar poruttu, ellaarkkum peyyum mazhai" 
Auvaiyar has said:-

நல்லார் ஒருவர் உளரேல் அவர் பொருட்டு
எல்லார்க்கும் பெய்யும் மழை

Perhaps this also must be borne in mind........



Monday, May 1, 2017

Rainfall check -3 (May 2017)

Update on 11th May added at the end of the article.


 Previous articles:-

The month of May starts with 2 opposing combinations of planets that had already started giving mixed results of extreme heat and wetness with instances of hail storms and thunder storms happening since 20th April 2017.

These are (1) Mercury – Venus closeness and (2) Sun- Mars closeness.  

Mercury – Venus closeness is a first rate rainfall causing yoga whereas Sun- Mars closeness is first rate heat causing yoga.

Mercury – Venus closeness started from 20th April and continues in May also.  But this date also marks the time of beginning of closeness between Sun and Mars.






 From August 25, 2016 onwards, Mars is moving ahead of all planets. Since then the rainfall scenario is very much affected and irregular in India as a whole. This is going to last till July 29, 2017 when Sun will overtake Mars.

Whenever Mars is ahead of all planets it causes hot and dry conditions.

  


This May, Sun and Mars, the two planets known as fiery planets are moving one behind the other and in front of all the planets. This is indicative of excess heat, dry and drought like conditions in May.

 




 






In May, yet another combination exists - between Venus and Jupiter. When they are together they induce rainfall. When they are apart –that is, in opposite signs, they reduce rainfall.  From Jan 27 to May 31 Venus and Jupiter are in opposing signs.

However this opposition comes with a rainfall feature too. Opposition means one planet will be rising while another will be setting almost simultaneously.  When that happens that supports rainfall. Thus a mixed trend exists within Venus- Jupiter opposition. All these major combinations present in the month of May can be shown as follows:


Sun- Mars conjunction is happening ahead of rainfall causing Venus- Mercury conjunction. This means both conditions prevail simultaneously which could result in hot day time followed with thunder showers. Venus- Jupiter opposition gives a no win- no loss situation which can be interpreted to mean that though there may be rains, the ultimate realisation in terms of water availability and rejuvenating water sources would be nil or not sufficient.

In this context it must also be borne in mind that the just started year of Hevilambi is the year of Kaalamegha (formation of sudden dark clouds giving rainfall accompanied with strong winds) and the Meghadhipathi is Mercury which gives rainfall accompanied with windiness. The planetary combinations for May indicate just this.


Rainfall support yogas in May 2017.

(1) Mercury – Venus closeness lasts from April 20 to June 21, 2017.

From April 20, Mercury has been moving backwards towards Venus which helps in reducing the gap between them. However on May 3, Mercury stops retrogression. It starts forward motion after that. From then onwards, Venus and Mercury would be moving forward one behind the other and this does not help in getting them any closer.

Their closeness happening in signs that denote west (Venus in Pisces) and east (Mercury in Aries) shows isolated rainfall in eastern and western parts of India. In the past when these two directions were involved it resulted in rainfall in interior Peninsular India with more areas in the western section of Peninsular India, as Venus, the rain-giver is in the sign of west.

The distance between them in the month of May is tabulated below to show how far the reduction in gap can help.

Date
Distance between Venus and Mercury
Remarks
May 1
23 degrees

May 5
21*

May 9 to
May 17
19*
Closest in this season
May 20
20*

May 25
22*

May 30
24*


The closest distance between them is 19 degrees happening for 9 days.

Though this distance is insufficient to ensure widespread and heavy rainfall, it can support rainfall to some extent. The stars transited by Mercury and Venus at this time shows that North and NE India would get isolated thunder storms.

(2) Sun in Vayu Nadi.

When Sun moves through the star Rohini, it is said to be in Vayu nadi. Though it is not categorised as rainfall yoga, it can give rainfall accompanied with gales and winds. This period is in between May 25 and June 8, 2017. Sun in Rohini indicates central parts of India and interior Peninsular India.

(3) Venus enters the next sign, Aries on May 31

Usually when Venus enters the next sign in the rainy season, it triggers rainfall. With this entry into Aries, Venus and Mercury come to occupy Aries with no planet in between them. The closeness between them continues.


Rainfall spoiling yogas in May 2017.

(1) Mars ahead of all the planets.

(2) Sun- Mars conjunction happening ahead of all the planets.

(3) Mars in Dahana Nadi while it is moving in the star Mrigasheersha between May 16 and June 5.

(4) Mars enters Gemini on May 27, thereby coming to the opposite of Saturn. When Mars and Saturn are in opposite signs, it does spoil or retard rainfall.


Remarks:

One can notice that the combined reading of rainfall causing and spoiling yogas do not show a trigger feature for onset of SW monsoon.

Venus- Mercury closeness at 19 degrees is not enough, as they used to be in exact conjunction in the past that had triggered a meteorological event such as onset or formation of a system. The only redeeming feature is the entry of Venus in Aries by which it comes to be in the same sign with Mercury. This date (May 31) might perhaps indicate a weak onset of SWM.


List of important dates of rainfall for May 2017.


Date
Astrological feature

Event
Place
Spoilers, if any
1
May 3
Mercury ends retrogression

Thunder storms
NE India
Mars in forefront.
2
May 9 to May 17
Mercury- Venus closer at 19*
Thunder storms
Northern Himalayan countries,

NE India,

Interior Peninsular India.

     ”
3
May 15
Sun enters Taurus.
Spurt in heat conditions
South India
(1) Sun and Mars in same sign.

(2) Sun – Mars closer to each other

(3) Sun – Mars ahead of all the other planets.

4
May 16
Mars enters Mrigasheerisha

Spurt in hot conditions.
Peninsular India.

Central India.
 
    ”
5
May 17
Gap between Venus and Mercury starts increasing.
Reduction in rainfall
Peninsular India.

     ”
6
May 25
Sun enters Rohini
Scattered rainfall with gales.
South interior Tamilnadu.

Central India and west India.


     ”
7
May 27
Mars enters Gemini
Reduction in rainfall
West India
     ”
Saturn in opposition to Mars.
8
May 31
Venus enters Aries.
(1) Venus joins Mercury in the same sign.

(2) Venus comes out of Jupiter- opposition.

(3) Simultaneous rising of Mars and setting of Saturn.



Weak onset of SWM
(1) Mars in forefront

(2) Sun, Mercury and Venus line-up behind Mars.

(3) Mars- Saturn opposition.

Rainfall for Chennai.

The above planetary combinations do not indicate rainfall in eastern coastal regions of south India.
The daily Garbottam charts were not maintained for this month. However we can derive some inputs from the rainfall data of Nov- Dec 2016.

May 2017 corresponds to waning Aippasi and waxing Karthigai of last year. This corresponds to the period between mid- November to mid- December 2016.

November 2016 was totally dry and cloudless in Chennai. But there was Vardah cyclone crossing Chennai on Dec 11, 2016. It occurred in waxing phase of Karthigai. Assuming a few days prior to that had cloudy conditions, it corresponds to dates around May 20. In the absence of daily Garbottam chart, this cannot be confirmed.


UPDATE on 11th May 2017.

The rainfall yoga caused by closeness between Mercury and Venus is having an upper hand over the deficient yoga caused by Mars moving in the forefront.

Ever since Mercury- Venus closeness began on 20th April, it had been raining in those parts indicated in the chart above.

Particularly from 9th May onwards, the rainfall has been fairly widespread in interior South India. On 9th these two planets came closest to each other and this distance continues to be the same till 17th May. Therefore  we can expect the current trend of widespread rainfall until then. 

Even after that, the closeness continues until 21st June thereby indicating continuing scope for rainfall. The closeness season indicating rainfall for 2017, written in my blog 27th December 2016 is shown below. 



The huge gap between June 21 and August 27 is a cause for concern and will be written in detail in the upcomimg monthly articles.

For the time being, the following factors (already written in the above article) are of importance.

15th May - Sun enters next sign (Taurus) to join with Mars - Spurt in heat conditions.
However the same combination leaves back Mercury and Venus to be close and together. This helps in rainfall activity.

25th May - Sun enters Rohini - Spurt in rainfall accompanied with thunder and winds.
31st May - Venus enters Aries to join with Mercury - They are going to be together in the same sign till 19th June without any adverse aspect from any planet - Rainfall activity.

These two dates - 25th May and 31st May - might be associated with onset of SWM.

Rainfall for Chennai:

Parts of Chennai received drizzles on the night of 9th May and in the morning of 11th (today).

My place received mild drizzle
at 9 PM on 9th May
and at 11 AM on 11th May for a few minutes.

These two are good Garbottam features and relate to the day before and after Deepavali this year. (Chathurdashi before Amavasya and Prathamai after Amavasya in Aippasi)

The dates are 18th and 20th October 2017. This means that many parts of Chennai would receive rainfall on the days before and after Deepavali this year.

Looking backwards before 6 and a half months, to see the link to drizzles today and on 9th May, we get interesting connections.

The corresponding dates are 29th and 31st October 2016.
On 29th October 2016, cyclone Kyant was expected to have hit Chennai. But it went away from Chennai. Perhaps the presence of rain clouds off Chennai brought drizzles and mild rains to Chennai today and on 9th.

Cloud formation in my location at 10 AM on 11th May 2017.