Synoptic weather conditions during ARMEX

The paper briefly describes the salient synoptic weather conditions that prevailed over Indian subcontinent during the two phases of ARMEX programme along with some documentation of some unique observed features e.g. rainfall, wind and cloud pattern, etc. in intraseasonal time scale with the hope that these inputs will be helpful to other researchers working on ARMEX data for further diagnostic or prognostic studies. There were five intense observation periods (IOP) during ARMEX phase-I (15 June - 16 August 2002) when some parts of West Coast of India received heavy rainfall. Important synoptic systems that prevailed during different IOPs are described. In the ARMEX phase-II (15 March  - 10 April 2003 and 15 May  - 15 June 2003) there was only one IOP which coincided with the onset of monsoon over Kerala and its advance into Coastal Karnataka and Konkan-Goa. The synoptic conditions along with rainfall distribution during this period are described in the paper. A few diagnostic parameters like kinetic energy and outgoing long-wave radiation are also presented.