by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: July 29, 2008   Last Updated: November 11, 2010

the rainiest places on earth are Cherrapunji, India, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Australia, Colombia, in the Cameroon Mountain area of Africa, Kauia, Hawaii. Interestingly, I learned while researching that there is a difference between the rainiest places and the wettest places on earth. One would think that the water falling down would soak the soil to a point of saturation that could be called wet; but apparently not.

It must be then that in some places the rain falls but it either runs off quickly - water runs from high to low when cool - or it is quickly evaporated into the atmosphere by the sun. Adding to that would be the wind currents that could divert the rain farther away from its downward thrust.

How do the selected areas get nominated for the rainiest, the driest, having the longest drought and so on? It is the yearly rainfall averaged that gives them this distinction. In Tutunedo, Colombia the average rainfall is 463.4 inches. There it probably does not rain every day, but when it does it produces more water, In Mount Wai-Ali'Ali'in Kauai, Hawaii it rains on the average 350 days out of 365.

Opposite these facts are some no-rain statistics: From October 1903 to January 1918 it did not rain in Africa, Chile. That means that for fourteen years they were without rain. A similar but lesser deprivation happened in the US October 12th 1912 to November 8th, 1914 in Bagdad, California. The highest annual rainfall in Europe is Crkvica, a little town near Sarajevo in Bosnia.

Columbia is a wet country since it has much rainfall and apparently most of the rain is contained where it falls. Meteorologist explains it this way and label the phenomenon mega diverse. What that means is the country has mountains, deserts, tropical regions, steppes - flat lands amidst mountainous regions - giving it the right kind of weather for rain. In particular, Andaguya, a Colombian town that is on the equator and has an almost constant temperature year round. They get lots of rain.

Yet, elsewhere in Colombia, there's not a drop to drink although they have a record rainfall. Quibdo, Columbia, a lowland area near the Panama border, a gateway between that country and South Central America has a record rainfall but has water shortages.

Cameroon, Africa, near the Cameroon Mountains averages about 400 inches of rain a year in some parts. The area is conducive to rain fall with the tropical regions, ocean, forests, grasslands, deserts and mountains. A similar situation happens in India. Meghalya has enough rainfall and is wet but it has little fit to drink. This area holds the record for the most rainfall in one year. In 1860-1861 it was over 900 inches.

Why does it rain daily in the wettest place in the world? In Mount Waialeala Kauai, Hawaii has special place for rain. It all related to geological conditions with a conical shape, is near an ocean and has the perfect trade winds that are conducive to rain. Llora Colombia has coastlines on the Pacific and Caribean Ocean is, according to weather watcher, a geologic freak with a daily 1.5 inch rainfall. It holds the honor of being the world's wettest place.

Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/ http://earthsky.org/faq/whats-the-rainiest-place-on- earth http://blog.ratestogo.com/ http://enotes.com/science-fact-finder-weather-climat e/where-rainiest-place-earth

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