Climates of India
India's two monsoons
Learn about India's two monsoons and how the rains travel across the country.
In India the monsoon rain reaches the southern tip in early June and moves north over several weeks, covering the whole country by mid-July.
It isn't smooth. The Western Ghats stand in the way: the wet wind climbs their western slopes and drops lots of rain there, so the Deccan Plateau behind them gets less, often with gaps.
| Summer monsoon | Winter monsoon | |
|---|---|---|
| name | southwest monsoon (the direction the wind comes from) | northeast monsoon |
| wind | sea → land | land → sea |
| rain | most of India | parts of east and south India: the dry winds pick up moisture crossing the Bay of Bengal |
Mawsynram in Meghalaya gets the highest average rainfall in the world: about 11,000 mm a year. That's 11 metres of water!
The rains have inspired music too: rāgas like Meghamalhār and Amruthavarshini in Hindustani and Carnatic music.
People have long read nature's signs to predict the monsoon:
- Konkan fishermen: fish that usually stay deep are seen at the surface
- in parts of the south: rain comes about 50 days after the Golden Shower tree (Cassia fistula) blooms
- some say crows' nests built high mean less rain, and low nests mean heavy rain
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