Monsoon climate
Topic: Climate of India and the Monsoon · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Climate"
Meaning
A monsoon climate has three features: wet summers, dry winters, and a monsoon. A monsoon is a seasonal reversal of winds, which means the winds change direction with the season. The word comes from the Arabic mausim, meaning "season". Arab sailors used this wind reversal to sail to India.
India has a hot monsoon climate, like the rest of South and Southeast Asia. Monsoon systems also occur in Australia and Africa. Regions within India differ a lot, but Class 11 says India's climate is still "monsoonal in rhythm and character". This matters because the whole farm year follows the arrival and retreat of the rains.
Example
Mumbai, on the west coast of Maharashtra, gets very heavy rain from June to September, when moist winds blow in from the sea. Its winter months are almost dry, because the winds then blow from the land.
Don't confuse with
- Monsoon (the wind): the monsoon is only the seasonally reversing wind. A monsoon climate is the full pattern of weather that this wind produces over many years.