Continuous hourly rainfall dataset from year 1997 to 2013 of a western coastal site of India, which receives the pre-dominantly south-west monsoon, have been analyzed to understand the independence of monsoon rainstorms. The site receives nearly 90% of its annual rainfall in four months (June to September) on average 90 rainfall days. The analysis shows that theminimum interval between two rainfall events for them to be statistically independent varies from year to year and ranges from 4 to 42 hours. This minimum interval for statistical independence has some correlation with both the total monsoon rainfall and the maximum 24-hour rainfall for the particular year. The findings of this study would be useful for future monsoon analysisfor Indian sub-continent.
South-west Monsoon, Rainstorms, Independence of Events
