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MONSOON

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 379 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONSOON . The two monsoon periods are divided by the See also:

change of temperature, due to See also:solar See also:action upon the See also:earth's See also:surface, into two See also:separate seasons; and thus the See also:Indian See also:year may be divided into four seasons: the See also:cold See also:season, including the months of See also:January and See also:February; the hot season, comprising the months of See also:March, See also:April and May; the See also:south-See also:west monsoon See also:period, including the months of See also:June, See also:July, See also:August, See also:September and See also:October; and the retreating monsoon period, including the months of See also:November and See also:December. The temperature is nearly See also:constant in See also:southern See also:India the whole year See also:round, but in See also:northern India, where the extremes of both See also:heat and cold are greatest, the variation is very large. In the cold season the mean temperature averages about 300 See also:lower in the 'See also:Punjab than in southern India. In the Punjab, the See also:United Provinces, and northern India generally the See also:climate The cold resembles that of the See also:Riviera, with a brilliant' cloudless See also:weather, See also:sky and cool dry weather. This is the See also:time for the tourist to visit India. In south India it is warmer on the west See also:coast than on the See also:east, and the maximum temperature is found round the See also:head-See also:waters of the See also:Kistna. See also:Calcutta, Bombay and See also:Madras all possess the equable climate that is induced by proximity to the See also:sea, but Calcutta enjoys a cold season which is not to be found in the other See also:presidency towns, while the hot season is more unendurable there. The hot season begins officially in the Punjab on the 15th of March, and from that date there is a steady rise in the temperature, induced The hot by the fiery rays of the See also:sun upon the See also:baking earth, until the break of the rains in June. During this season the weather, interior of the See also:peninsula and northern India is greatly heated ; and the contrast of temperature is not between northern and southern India, but between the interior of India and the coast districts and adjacent seas. The greater See also:part of the See also:Deccan and the Central Provinces are included within the hottest See also:area, though in May the highest temperatures are found in Upper See also:Sind, See also:north-west See also:Rajputana, and south-west Punjab. At See also:Jacobabad the thermometer sometimes rises to 125' in the shade.

The south-west monsoon currents usually set in during the first fortnight of June on the Bombay and See also:

Bengal coasts, and give more or less See also:general See also:rain in every part of India during the next The three months. But the See also:distribution of the rainfall is monsoon very uneven. On the See also:face of the Western See also:Ghats, and on period. the Khasi hills, overlooking the See also:Bay of Bengal, where the mountains catch the masses of vapour as it rises off the sea, the rainfall is enormous. At See also:Cherrapunji in the Khasi hills it averages upwards of 500 in. a year. The Bombay monsoon, after surmounting the Ghats, blows across the peninsula as a west and sometimes in places a north-west See also:wind; but it leaves with very little rain a See also:strip See also:loo to zoo m. in width in the western Deccan parallel with the Ghats, and it is this part of the Deccan, together with the See also:Mysore table-See also:land and the Carnatic, that is most subject to drought. Similarly the Bengal monsoon passes by the Coromandel coast and the Carnatic with an occasional shower, taking a larger See also:volume to See also:Masulipatam and See also:Orissa, and abundant rain to Bengal, See also:Assam and See also:Cachar. The same current also supplies with rain the broad See also:band across India, which includes the See also:Satpura range, See also:Chota See also:Nagpur, the greater part of the Central Provinces and Central India, Orissa and Bengal. Rainfall rapidly diminishes to the north-west from that See also:belt. A See also:branch of the Bombay current blows See also:pretty steadily through Rajputana to the Punjab, carrying some rain to the latter See also:province. But the greater part of north-west India is served as a See also:rule by cyclonic storms between the two currents. In September the force of the monsoon begins rapidly to decline, and after about the See also:middle of the See also:month it ceases to carry rain to the greater part of north-western India. In its See also:rear springs up a See also:gentle steady north-east wind, which See also:Flora.

Unlike many other large See also:

geographical areas, India is remarkable for having no distinctive botanical features See also:peculiar to itself. It differs conspicuously in this respect from such countries as See also:Australia or South See also:Africa. Its vegetation is in point of fact of a composite See also:character, and is constituted by the See also:meeting and more or less blending of adjoining floras,—those of See also:Persia and the south-eastern Mediterranean area to the north-west, of See also:Siberia to the north, of See also:China to the east, and of Malaya to the south-east. Regarded broadly, four tolerably distinct types See also:present themselves. I. The upper levels of the Himalayas slope northwards gradually to the Tibetan uplands, over which the Siberian temperate vegetation ranges. This is part of the See also:great temperate flora which, Himalayas. with locally individualized See also:species, but often with identical genera, ranges over the whole of the temperate See also:zone of the northern hemisphere. In the western Himalayas this upland flora is marked by a strong admixture of See also:European species, such as the See also:columbine (Aquilegia) and See also:hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha). These disappear rapidly eastward, and are scarcely found beyond See also:Kumaon. The See also:base of the Himalayas is occupied by a narrow belt forming an extreme north-western See also:extension of the Malayan type described below. Above that there is a See also:rich temperate flora which in the eastern See also:chain may be regarded as forming an extension of that of northern China, gradually assuming westwards more and more of a European type. See also:Magnolia, See also:Aucuba, Abelia and Skimmia may be mentioned as 'examples of See also:Chinese genera found in the eastern Himalayas, and the See also:tea-See also:tree grows See also:wild in Assam.

The same coniferous trees are See also:

common to both parts of the range. Pinus longifelia extends to the See also:Hindu-Kush ; P. excelsa is found universally except in See also:Sikkim, and has its European analogue in P. Pence, found in the mountains of See also:Greece. Abies smithiana extends into See also:Afghanistan; Abies webbiana forms dense forests at altitudes of Sow to 12,000 ft., and ranges from See also:Bhutan to See also:Kashmir; several junipers and the common See also:yew (Taxus baccata) also occur. The deodar (Cedrus Deodara), which is indigenous to the mountains of Afghanistan and the north-west See also:Himalaya, is nearly allied to the See also:Atlantic See also:cedar and to the cedar of See also:Lebanon, a See also:form of which is found in See also:Cyprus. A notable further instance of the connexion of the western Himalayan flora with that of See also:Europe is the holm See also:oak (Quercus flex), which is characteristic of the Mediterranean region. 2. The north-western area is best marked in Sind and the Punjab, where the climate is very dry (the rainfall averaging less than 15 In.), and where the See also:soil, though fertile, is wholly dependent on North. See also:irrigation for its cultivation. The flora is a poor one in west. number of species, and is essentially identical with that of Persia, southern See also:Arabia and See also:Egypt. The See also:low scattered junglg contains such characteristic species as Capparis aphylla, See also:Acacia arabica (See also:babel), Populus euphratica (the " willows " of Ps. cxxxvii. 2), Salvadora persica (erroneously identified by See also:Royle with the See also:mustard of Matt. xiii.

31), See also:

tamarisk, Zizyphus, See also:Lotus, &c. The dry flora extends somewhat in a south-east direction, and then blends in-sensibly with that of the western peninsula; some species representing it are found in the upper Gangetic See also:plain, and a few are widely distributed in dry parts of the See also:country. 3.

End of Article: MONSOON

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