Cherrapunji receives both the Southwest and Northeast monsoon showers which give it a single monsoon season. It lies in the windward side of the Khasi Hills.
Cause of extreme high rainfall:
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Cherrapunjee receives rains from the Bay of Bengal arm of the Indian Summer Monsoon. The monsoon clouds fly unhindered over the plains of Bangladesh for about 400 km. Thereafter, they hit the Khasi Hills which abruptly rise out of the plains to reach a height of about 1370 m above mean sea level within of 2 to 5 km. The geography of the hills with many deep valleys channels the low-flying (150-300 m) moisture-laden clouds from a wide area to converge over Cherrapunji. The winds push the rain clouds through these gorges and up the steep slopes. The rapid ascent of the clouds into the upper atmosphere hastens the cooling and helps vapours to condense. Most of Cherrapunji's rain is the result of air being lifted as a large body of water vapour.
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The locals living in and around Cherrapunjee are known as Khasis. The Khasi people are a scheduled tribe. An interesting matter is that there exist matriline culture. Do you know what is matriline? A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant (of either sex) in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers.
