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What is Drought

The concept of Drought fundamentally refers to insufficient water supply relative to a specific demand, both exhibiting considerable geographic and temporal variations. From a hydro meteorological perspective, a number of indices have been developed that emphasize different aspects of drought.

Figure 1 :SPI of Maldives For April-June 2019.
Intensity of brown colour indicates the strength of drought. Green colour indicates rainfall

Rainfall in Northern Maldives

Figure 2 : Yearly rainfall during the past six years in Northern Maldives

The mean annual cycle of rainfall in Maldives shows a dry season from February to March and a wet season from April to November. The Northern most Hanimadhoo station receives annual average rainfall that ranges from 1700 mm. The character of the annual rainfall shows the drier months at February and March. The Northern stations receive highest rainfall during the summer monsoon month of June.

• Resources

  • Our Maldives Page gives further information on advisories, monitoring, projects done on the climate of Maldives.
  • Click here to view flyers
  • Workshop on Climate and Water Security in the Maldives

The cumulative rainfall anomalies (difference in the received with the historical monthly average) for Northern Maldives.

The Maldives had close to average rainfall in aggregation for June 2019. Seasonally, there were deficits in the Central Island from May to December. The temperature in the Maldives was warmer than usual. The sea surface temperatures stayed modestly warmer . Further information is at http://fectsl.blogspot.com/ and http://www.tropicalclimate.org/sri_lanka/drought/index.php