Red Rain in Kerala known as God’s own country is one of the most beautiful states of India with beautiful backwaters, rich flora and fauna, enchanting beaches and mountains and lip-smacking food. The beautiful place like this also has experienced some mysteries like Red Rain.
The strange but curious phenomena of Red Rain was recorded to have occurred in some parts of Kerala. This was dated to occur from 25 July to 23 September 2001. Â
Red Rain in Kerala
There were several unanswered and unexplained questions which were raised like how the red particles reached the rain clouds? Where did the clouds travel from? What were the phenomena behind the mysterious red rain? And several other questions.
The other study which was commissioned by the Government of India concluded that the rain was coloured because of the airborne spores of the local terrestrial green algae.
The districts of Kottayam and Idukki was the first to witness the red rain of Kerala on 25 July of 2001 which was most frequently reported to occur for 10 days since then and was continued till 23 September of 2001.
The locals reported that there was a loud thunderstorm with lightning and tree leaves burnt. It was also reported that there was a sudden formation of wells in a few localities.
The rain was mixed with reddish-brown particles which was supposedly the reason for the coloured rain. The rain lasted for less than 20 minutes. The rain contained about 9 million red particles. It was estimated as there were 50000 kgs of red particles showered and the particles were of the size of 4 to 10 micrometer.
According to the report of the Centre for Earth Science Studies ( CESS) the pH of the water was 7 (neutral) and the rain contained metals like titanium, chromium, copper, manganese and nickel and particles were mostly composed of oxygen and carbon with traces of silicon, hydrogen and nitrogen and it was coloured because of the presence of huge amount of spores containing algae. The LIDAR test said that the reason for the cause of the red rain was the outbreak of the cloud of dust particles near Kerala.
The red rain caused panic among the people but it’s the part of nature and its mysteries but there are many other mysteries which are beyond science and human imagination and knowledge in the world and the red rain of Kerala can be said as one among them.