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The climate of India
India has a very diverse climate, which is caused by its situation and
the big differences in geography. Thus India has not less than seven
climate zones according to the Koeppen-Geiger climate
classification. The west and north-west have areas with a desert
climate (type BwH) or a steppe climate (type BSh). The steppe climate
also occurs in parts of the south of the country. The mountainous
areas in the north and north-east of India have a moderate China
climate (Cwb) passing into a high mountain climate in the most
elevated areas of the Himalaya mountains. The north and north-east
(among others the provinces Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, parts of Madhya
Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, parts of Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Manipur,
Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura have a warm China climate
alternated with a tropical savannah climate (Aw). Large parts of the
south and east have the tropical monsoon climate as well. The
west coast however is subject to a tropical monsoon climate (type
Am),just like the archipelagoes of Laccadiven (West India) and
Andamanen & Nicobaren (east of the mainland of India).
Because of the large differences in types of climate
it is very important to consider very well in what season you travel
to what place. Traveling to the east of India in the period of May up
to and including September surely means getting to do with much rain
and a considerable chance of floods and other misery as a consequence
of extreme precipitation. Thus Cherrapunji in the province of
Meghalaya is even the wettest place but one on earth. The yearly
moderate precipitation here is not less than 11.440 millimeter, of
which the months June and July with amply 2800 mm. a month are by far
the wettest. That is nearly one hundred millimeter a day, which is
even more than what falls in Holland per month in the wettest months.
The village of Mawsynram, situated nine kilometers farther away, is
even wetter; with an average of 11.872 millimeters a year this is
officially the wettest place on earth. According to the Guinness Book
of Records Mawsynram had to deal with as much as 26000 millimeters of
rain in the year 1985, which is by far the largest amount of
precipitation ever in one place within one year. The extremely large
amount of rainfall, which also the neighboring country of Bangla Desh
has to deal with, has a combination of three causes. First of all there
is the warm humid wind rolling in from the Gulf of Bengal in northern
direction. Second there is the situation of the Khasi mountain range
forming a kind of wall, by which the depressions from the Gulf of
Bengal are slowed down and larger quantities of rain can fall. Heavy
rainfall for days on end during the monsoon period in the summer
months
is no exception. The third reason is that during the monsoon a
lift effect is generated, dragging, as it were, the rain up the hills.
The differences in temperature against the mountain-passes causes the
vapor in the air easily to be transformed into rain.
Climate information of places and areas in India
The climate information on this page is only brief. Specific
information about weather and climate can be found on the climate
pages per area or town. As for India the following climate
information is available:
Four seasons
India roughly counts four seasons. After a rather short winter
(January and February) from March the temperature quickly rises
through which the climatological summer starts already early in the
year. In those months temperatures in the afternoon rise to
approximately thirty degrees (coastal areas) to more than forty
degrees (inland). Dependent on the area the summer lasts from appr.
March up to auding May or June. In India the monsoon period starts in
the beginning of June.
It starts every year about June 1st in the south-east and east and
then travels in northern/north-westerly direction. Delhi is reached at
the end of the month and the north-west has a short monsoon period not
starting until the end of July/the beginning of August. The monsoon
period lasts up to and including September or locally October,
followed by a season with quiet transitional weather to the short
winter. In the north the winter starts in November, in the rest of the
country not until the course of December. During the wintermonths snow
falls in the Himalaya mountains. In the coldest months sometimes night
frost occurs in Central India. Due to the low temperatures and the
almost complete lack of wind in the northern half of India fog easily
arises in the winter season.
Summer
The summermonths are warm and very humid. The last two months before
the monsoon the relative air humidity rises to high values. An air
humidity of 75 to 95 percent is very normal in many places in India
then, which causes the otherwise so tight-blue heaven to get very hazy
to even cloudy, without there being any question of depressions
entering the country. The chance of thunderstorms also increases
strongly and particularly along the coast strong winds can occur,
which are the forerunners of the serious oncoming weather change. The
only summer month that is still agreeable is March. After March it
quickly gets damp and unstable. Inland from April on the heat gets
unagreeable through which traveling is rather heavy from this month
on.
Climate figures
Spread over India you find various climate data and temperatures.
The data in the index below go for the coastal places in the federal
state of Goa. Visit the individual climate information pages for the
climate data in other places of India.
More climate information
Climate figures are very useful but don’t present a general impression
of the climate and the eventual weather circumstances within a certain
period. The figures don’t always reflect the chance of wintry weather,
extreme heat or hurricanes. That is why we monthly offer useful extra
climate information. The information below is an average for the
coastal places in the federal state of Goa . Please visit the pages on
individual climate information for other places in India.
Disclaimer
The information at this site was carefully composed from climate data collected by meteorological services, meteorological offices, climate experts and other sources. “More climate info” is based on statistics, climate data and personal experience. No rights can be derived from this site. Weather has no memory and gives no guaranties. Nothing is as changeable and unpredictable as the weather. The authors of this site feel in no way responsible for any damages caused by misinterpretation or other circumstances that may influence your holiday or trip to a certain destination. We provide information, it’s up to the reader to use it to it’s benefit.
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= 0-5 mm ●
= 6-30 mm ●
= 31-60 mm ●
= 61-100 mm ●
= 101-200 mm ●
=
over 200 mm
