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Question: What are the factors Affecting the Climate of India?
Answer: The factors responsible for climate conditioning in India are-
- Latitude: The latitudinal extent of India lies between 8°4’N and 35° 45’N and hence the tropic of cancer divides the country into almost two halves each facing a different climatic zone. The part lying to the South of the tropic of cancer observes tropical climate and the part lying to the north observes subtropical climate.
- Altitude: The northern part of the country is covered with very high mountains called the Himalayas which have an average height of about 6,000 meters. This relief feature prevents the cold winds blowing from Central Asia from entering the Subcontinent and monsoon winds blowing in India to cross the Himalayas acting as a climate divide. Similarly in the southern part, presence of relief features not higher than 30 meters allow the winds from oceans to enter India and cause rainfall.
- Pressure and Surface Winds: India lies in the region of Northern easterly winds that blow south but get deflected the right due to the Coriolis force and move on towards the equatorial low-pressure area. India has a unique position over here and a good amount of rainfall is observed in the mainland as the winds collect moisture when blowing over the oceans.
- Upper Air Circulation: The upper air circulation belongs to the jet streams. In case of India, the position of the streams is north of the Himalayas in Summers and South of the Himalayas in winters bringing monsoon to the country.
- Western Cyclonic Disturbances and Tropical Cyclones: The western cyclonic disturbances influence the weather in the regions in north and north-western parts of the country leading to rain showers. The occurrence of tropical cyclones that can be witnessed during monsoon as well as in the months of October and November affect the coastal region of the subcontinent leading to the occurrence of rainfall and even floods in that area.
