Question

Notwithstanding the broad climatic unity, the climate of India has many regional variations. Elaborate on this statement giving suitable examples.

Answer 1

The monsoon regime emphasizes the unity of India with the rest of the south-east Asian region. This view of broad unity of the monsoon type of climate should not, however, lead one to ignore its regional variations which differentiate the weather and climate of different regions of India. The climate of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south is so different from that of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north, and yet all of these have a monsoon type of climate.

1. While in the summer the mercury occasionally touches 55°C in the western Rajasthan, it drops down to as low as minus 45°C in winter around Leh. Churu in Rajasthan may record a temperature of 50°C or more on a June day while the mercury hardly touches 19°C in Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) on the same day.

2. On a December night, the temperature in Drass (Jammu and Kashmir) may drop down to minus 45°C while Thiruvananthapuram or Chennai on the same night records 20°C or 22°C.

3. In Kerala and in the Andaman Islands, the difference between day and night temperatures may be hardly seven or eight degrees Celsius. But in the Thar desert, if the day temperature is around 50°C, at night, it may drop down considerably up to 15°-20°C.

4. While snowfall occurs in the Himalayas, it only rains over the rest of the country. Similarly, variations are noticeable not only in the type of precipitation but also in its amount. While Cherrapunji and Mawsynram in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya receive rainfall over 1,080 cm in a year, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan rarely gets more than 9 cm of rainfall during the same period.

5. Tura situated in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya may receive an amount of rainfall in a single day which is equal to 10 years of rainfall at Jaisalmer. While the annual precipitation is less than 10 cm in the northwest Himalayas and the western deserts, it exceeds 400 cm in Meghalaya.

6. The Ganga delta and the coastal plains of Orissa are hit by strong rain-bearing storms almost every third or fifth day in July and August while the Coromandal coast, a thousand km to the south, goes generally dry during these months. Most parts of the country get rainfall during June-September, but in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, it rains at the beginning of the winter season.

These examples confirm that there are seasonal variations in temperature from place to place and from region to region in India. In spite of these differences and variations, the climate of India is monsoonal in rhythm and character.