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Geography

The Indian Climate – Climatic Regions of India

admin Send an email September 24, 2019
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Climatic Regions of India

  • India has a monsoon type of climate with large regional variations in terms of rainfall and temperature. These variations represent the subtypes of the monsoon climate. It is on this basis that the climatic regions can be identified.
  • A climatic region has a homogeneous climatic condition which is the result of a combination of factors. Temperature and rainfall are two important elements which are considered to be decisive in all the schemes of climatic classification.
  • While classifying Indian climatic regions, most geographers have given more importance to rainfall than to temperature as variations in rainfall are much more marked than those of temperature.

Climatic Regions of India

Stamp’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India

    • L. Dudley Stamp’s classification of Indian climate is much similar to that suggested by W.G. Kendrew.
    • Stamp used 18°C isotherm of mean monthly temperature for January to divide the country into two broad climatic regions –
        • Temperate or continental zone in the north and
        • Tropical zone in the south.
    • This line runs roughly across the root of the peninsula, more or less along or parallel to the Tropic of Cancer.
    • The two major climatic regions are further divided into eleven regions depending upon the amount of rainfall and temperature.

Stamp's classification of Climatic Regions of India

1. Temperate or Continental India 

Divided into five regions –

          1. The Himalayan region (heavy rainfall)
          2. The north-western region (moderate rainfall)
          3. The arid low land
          4. The region of moderate rainfall
          5. The transitional zone

2. Tropical India 

Divided into six regions –

          1. Region of very heavy rainfall
          2. Region of heavy rainfall
          3. Region of moderate rainfall
          4. The Konkan Coast
          5. The Malabar Coast
          6. Tamil Nadu

Stamp’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India

A.   Temperate or Continental India                       (Studywrap.com)

Region

Avg Temperature

Annual Rainfall
 

Himalayan Region

 

  

Winter = 4°-7°C

 

Summer = 13°-18°C

 

  

East = Over 200 cm

 

West = much less than the east

 

  

  • Embraces entire Himalayan Region which includes Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, large parts of Uttarakhand, northern hill region of West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Higher reaches are under snow
  • Representative cities – Shimla in the West and Darjeeling in the East
 

North-western Region

 

  

Winter = 16°C

 

Summer = 24°C

  

Below 200 cm

 

  

  • Northern parts of Punjab and southern parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
  • Representative City – Amritsar
 

Arid Lowland

 

  

Winter = 16° to 24°C

 

Summer = 48°C

 

Below 40 cm

 

  

  • Vast dry area which includes Thar desert of Rajasthan, south western part of Haryana and Kachchh of Gujarat.
  • Representative City – Jaipur
 

Region of moderate rainfall

 

  

Winter = 15°-18°C

 

Summer = 33°-35°C

 

40 – 80 cm

 

  

  • Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Union Territory of Delhi, north-west Plateau area of Madhya Pradesh and eastern Rajasthan.
  • Rainfall mostly in Summer.
  • Representative City – Delhi
 

Transitional Zone

  

Winter = 15°-19°C Summer = 30° – 35°C

  

100 -150 cm

 

  

  • Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
  • Representative City – Patna

B. Tropical India                                             (Studywrap.com)
 

Region of very heavy rainfall

 

  

Winter = 18°C

Summer
= 32°-35°C

 

Over 200 cm

 

  

  • Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland comprises this area.
  • Cherrapunji and Mawsynram gets 1102 cm and 1221 cm of annual rainfall respectively.
  • Representative City – Cherrapunji and Mawsynram
 

Region of heavy rainfall

 

  

Winter = 18°-24°C

Summer = 29°-35°C

  

100 – 200 cm

 

  

  • Area includes Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh.
  • Rainfall primarily by Monsoon winds of Bay of Bengal.
  • Rainfall decreases from east to west and from north to south.
  • Representative City – Kolkata
 

Region of moderate rainfall

 

  

Winter = 18°-24°C

Summer = 32°C in

 

50 -100 cm

 

  

  • Consists of areas between Western and Eastern Ghats.
  • Rainfall low due to the region lies in Rain-shadow area of Western Ghats.
  • Representative City – Hyderabad
 

Konkan Coast

 

  

Annual = 24°-27°C.

(Remains fairly high with variation of 3oC only)

  

Over 200 cm

 

  

  • Extends from Mumbai in the north to Goa in the south.
  • Rainfall due to Arabian Sea branch of South West Monsoon.
  • Representative City – Mumbai
 

Malabar Coast

 

  

Annual = 27°C

(annual range of temperature is only 3oC)

  

Over 250 cm

 

  

  • Extends from Goa to Kanyakumari.
  • Rainfall due to Arabian Sea branch of South West Monsoon.
  • Representative City  – Thiruvananthapuram
 

Tamil Nadu

 

  

Annual = 24°C

(annual range of temperature is only 3oC)

  

100 to 150 cm

(Retreating monsoon)

 

  

  • Includes Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh.
  • Rainfall during November and December.
  • Representative City – Chennai

 

Koppen’s Classification of Climatic Regions

 

    • Dr. Wladimir Koppen in 1936 published his latest work where he presented a new scheme of Climatic Classification.
    • Koeppen’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India is an empirical classification based on annual and monthly means of temperature and precipitation.
    • Koppen accepts the native vegetation as the best expression of totality of a climate.
    • Koppen has a view that the effectiveness of precipitation in vegetation growth depends not only upon the amount of precipitation, but also upon the intensity of transpiration and Evaporation.
    • Koppen identified a close relationship between the distribution of vegetation and climate.
    • He selected certain values of temperature and precipitation and related them to the distribution of vegetation and used these values for classifying the climates.
    • Koppen recognized five major climatic groups, four of them are based on temperature and one on precipitation. He identified five major climatic types and used letter symbols A, B, C, D and E to denote them:

Climatic Groups According to Koppen                                 (Studywrap.com)
 

A

  

Tropical Rainy climates (A)

  

mean monthly temperature throughout the year  is above 18°C
 

B

  

Dry climates (B)

  

Where precipitation is very low in comparison to temperature.

    • If dryness is less, it is semiarid (S);
    • If it is more, the climate is arid (W).
 

C

  

Warm temperate climates (C)

  

Where mean temperature of the coldest month is between 18°C and minus 3°C.
 

D

  

Cool temperate climates
(D)

  

Where mean temperature of the warmest month is over 10°C, and mean temperature of the coldest month is under minus 3°C.
 

E

  

Ice climates (E)

  

Where mean temperature of the warmest month is under 10°C.

 

    • The above mentioned major climatic types are further subdivided into sub-types depending upon the seasonal distribution of rainfall or degree of dryness or cold. Koppen used small letters such as m, w or h to define these sub-types:
 

a

  

hot summer, average temperature of the warmest month over 22°C
 

c

  

cool summer, average temperature of the warmest month under 22°C
 

f

  

no dry season
 

w

  

dry season in winter
 

s

  

dry season in summer
 

g

  

Ganges type of annual march of temperature; hottest month comes before the solstice and the summer rainy season.
 

h

  

(heiss) average annual temperature under 18°C
 

m

  

(Monsoon) short dry season.

 

    • The capital letters S and W are employed to designate the two subdivisions of dry climate:
        • semi-arid or Steppe (S) and
        •  Arid or desert (W).
    • Capital letters T and F are similarly used to designate the two subdivisions of polar climate
        • tundra (T) and
        • Icecap (F).

Koppens classification of Climatic regions

    • Koppen divided India into nine climatic regions making use of the above scheme.

Koeppen’s Scheme – Climatic Regions of India         (studywrap.com)

Climate type

Region

Annual rainfall
 

Amw

(Monsoon type with short dry winter season)

  

  • Western coastal region, south of Mumbai
  

over 300 cm
 

As

(Monsoon type with dry season in high sun
period)

  

  • Rainfall occurs in winter and summer is dry
  • Coromandel coast = Coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh
  

75 – 100 cm
 

Aw

(Tropical Savanah type)

  

  • Most parts of the peninsular plateau barring Coromandel and Malabar coastal strips.
  • Northern boundary of this climatic region roughly coincides with the Tropic Of Cancer.
  • Winter Season remains Dry.
  

75 cm

 
 

BShw

(Semi-arid Steppe type)

  

  • Some rain shadow areas of Western Ghats, large part of Rajasthan and contiguous areas of Haryana and Gujarat.
  • Rainfalloccurs in Summer.
  • Arid Steppes type vegetation is found here
  

12 to 25 cm

 
 

BWhw

(Hot desert type)

  

  • Most of western Rajasthan
  • Temperature very High in Summer
  • Natural vegetation almost absent.
  

less than 12 cm

 
 

Cwg

(Monsoon type with dry winters)

  

  • Most parts of the Ganga Plain, eastern Rajasthan, Assam and in Malwa Plateau.
  • Most of the rainfall occurs in summer and winter is dry.
  

100 – 200 cm

 
 

Dfc

(Cold, Humid winters type with shorter
summer)

  

  • Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam.
  • Winters are cold, humid and of longer duration
  • Summer are short but humid.
  

~200 cm

 
 

Et

(Tundra Type)

  

  • Mountain areas of Uttarakhand
  • The average temperature varies from 0 to 10°C
  

Rainfall varies from year to year.
 

E

(Polar Type)

  

Higher areas of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in which the temperature of the warmest month varies from 0° to 10°C   

 

Precipitation occurs in the form of snow

 

So, with this the part, the topic of Climate of India in Indian Geography is complete.

From the next post (Click Here), we will start a new topic which is Natural Vegetation of India.

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admin Send an email September 24, 2019
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