Meiktila sits in Myanmar’s central dry zone, a region in the rain shadow of the Rakhine mountains that receives significantly less rainfall than the coastal delta, with most of what rain does fall arriving during the June-to-October monsoon.
In Mandalay Region, the city sits beside a large lake in the dry zone, where the wet season brings a marked but relatively modest increase in rainfall. Because the dry zone’s soil and drainage systems are built for a much drier norm, an unusually intense monsoon storm, or heavy rain combined with the seasonal rise of the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin rivers, can produce flooding well out of proportion to the region’s typical conditions, making radar useful for catching these less frequent but serious events. Learn more: Flash Flood Warning Signs on Radar · Open the full Rain Map