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Factors Affecting India’s Climate
- There are major 3 factors that affect India’s Climate.
- Latitude - Horizontal lines that measure distance north or south of the equator.
- Altitude - Height of a place above sea level.
- Pressure and Winds - Air Pressure or Atmospheric pressure is the weight of the air and Wind refers to the movement of the air. These both are interconnected with each other and undermine the climate of the particular region.
Latitude
- In India, the Tropic of Cancer (latitude) passes through the middle of the country from the Rann of Kuchchh in the west to Mizoram in the east.
- The tropical region encompasses almost half of the nation , which is located south of the Tropic of Cancer.
- The rest of the area lies in the sub-tropics.
- Therefore, India’s climate has characteristics of tropical as well as subtropical climates
Altitude
- Northern India encompasses mountains with an average elevation of 6,000 meters .
- India also has a l arge coastline where the highest point is about 30 meters above sea level.
- The Himalayas prevent the cold winds from Central Asia from entering the subcontinent.
- These mountains are the reason that the subcontinent experiences comparatively milder winters as compared to central Asia.
Pressure and Winds
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The following atmospheric conditions govern the climate and associated weather conditions in India:
- Pressure and surface winds;
- Upper air circulation
- Western cyclonic disturbances and tropical cyclones.
- India is located in the zone of north-easterly winds.
- These winds originate in the northern hemisphere's subtropical high-pressure belt.
- They blow southwards , get deflected to the right due to the Coriolis force , and move towards the equatorial low-pressure area.
- These winds carry little moisture.
- As a result, they bring little or no rain to the country.
Pressure and wind conditions over India
- During winter, there is a high-pressure area north of the Himalayas.
- Cold, dry winds blow from this region to low-pressure areas over the southern oceans.
- During the summer, a low-pressure area forms over interior Asia as well as northwestern India. During the summer, this causes a complete reversal of wind direction
- Air moves southeastward from the high-pressure area over the southern Indian Ocean , crosses the equator, and turns right towards the low-pressure areas over the Indian subcontinent.
- These are known as the Southwest Monsoon winds.
- These winds blow over the warm oceans , collecting moisture and bringing widespread rain to India's mainland.
