Geography
Answer
- The cold weather season begins from mid-November in northern India and stays till February. December and January are the coldest months in the northern part of India.
- The temperature is higher (24-25°C) in peninsular India but lower (10-15°C) in North India.
- Days are warm and night are cold. Frost is common in north and the higher slopes of Himalayas experience snowfall.
- Winters are dry because, the northeast trade winds prevail over the country which blows from land to sea.
- Tamil Nadu gets rainfall in winters as here the northeast trade winds blow from sea to land.
- The northern plain is characterized by cyclonic western disturbances and winter rainfall. These rains are locally known as mahawat and are very important for rabi crops.
- The peninsular region does not have a well defined cold season as the moderating influence of the sea keeps the temperature patterns relatively stable throughout the year.
Related Questions
Give reasons as to why parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and the leeward side of the Western Ghats are drought-prone.
Describe the regional variations in the climatic conditions of India with the help of suitable examples.
Give the characteristics and effects of the monsoon rainfall in India.
In Table-I, the average mean monthly temperatures and amounts of rainfall of 10 representative stations have been given. It is for you to study on your own and convert them into 'temperature and rainfall' graphs. A glance at these visual representations will help you to grasp instantly the similarities and differences between them. One such graph (Figure I) is already prepared for you. See if you can arrive at some broad generalisations about our diverse climatic conditions. We hope you are in for a great joy of learning. Do the following activities
Stations Latitude Altitude
(Metres)Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual
RainfallTemperature(°C)
Bengaluru
Rainfall(cm)20.5 22.7 25.2 27.1 26.7 24.2 23.0 23.0 23.1 22.9 18.9 20.2 88.9 12°58'N 909 0.7 0.9 1.1 4.5 10.7 7.1 11.1 13.7 16.4 15.3 6.1 1.3 Temperature(°C)
Mumbai
Rainfall(cm)24.4 24.4 26.7 28.3 30.0 28.9 27.2 27.2 27.2 27.8 27.2 25.0 183.4 19°N 11 0.2 0.2 — — 1.8 50.6 61.0 36.9 26.9 4.8 1.0 — Temperature(°C)
Kolkata
Rainfall(cm)19.6 22.0 27.1 30.1 30.4 29.9 28.9 28.7 28.9 27.6 23.4 19.7 162.5 22°34'N 6 1.2 2.8 3.4 5.1 13.4 29.0 33.1 33.4 25.3 12.7 2.7 0.4 Temperature(°C)
Delhi
Rainfall(cm)14.4 16.7 23.3 30.0 33.3 33.3 30.0 29.4 28.9 25.6 19.4 15.6 67.0 29°N 219 2.5 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.8 7.4 19.3 17.8 11.9 1.3 0.2 1.0 Temperature(°C)
Jodhpur
Rainfall(cm)16.8 19.2 26.6 29.8 33.3 33.9 31.3 29.0 20.1 27.0 20.1 14.9 36.6 26°18'N 224 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.3 1.0 3.1 10.8 13.1 5.7 0.8 0.2 0.2 Temperature(°C)
Chennai
Rainfall(cm)24.5 25.7 27.7 30.4 33.0 32.5 31.0 30.2 29.8 28.0 25.9 24.7 128.6 13°4'N 7 4.6 1.3 1.3 1.8 3.8 4.5 8.7 11.3 11.9 30.6 35.0 13.9 Temperature(°C)
Nagpur
Rainfall(cm)21.5 23.9 28.3 32.7 35.5 32.0 27.7 27.3 27.9 26.7 23.1 20.7 124.2 21°9'N 312 1.1 2.3 1.7 1.6 2.1 22.2 37.6 28.6 18.5 5.5 2.0 1.0 Temperature(°C)
Shillong
Rainfall(cm)9.8 11.3 15.9 18.5 19.2 20.5 21.1 20.9 20.0 17.2 13.3 10.4 225.3 24°34'N 1461 1.4 2.9 5.6 14.6 29.5 47.6 35.9 34.3 30.2 18.8 3.8 0.6 Temperature(°C)
Thiruvananthapuram
Rainfall(cm)26.7 27.3 28.3 28.7 28.6 26.6 26.2 26.2 26.5 26.7 26.6 26.5 181.2 8°29'N 61 2.3 2.1 3.7 10.6 20.8 35.6 22.3 14.6 13.8 27.3 20.6 7.5 Temperature(°C)
Leh
Rainfall(cm)-8.5 -7.2 -0.6 6.1 10.0 14.4 17.2 16.1 12.2 6.1 0.0 -5.6 8.5 34°N 3506 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.3 1.3 0.8 0.5 — 0.5 