Peninsula, eastern plains of the Ganga, north - eastern India, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and south-western part of Jammu and Kashmir. These areas have an annual rainfall of over cm. A variability of over per cent exists in the western part of Rajasthan, northern part of Jammu and Kashmir and interior parts of the Deccan plateau. These areas have an annual rainfall of less than cm.
Rest of India have a variability of - per cent and these areas receive an annual rainfall between - cm (Figure . ). Climatic Regions of India The whole of India has a monsoon type of climate. But the combination of elements of the weather, however, reveal many regional variations.
These variations represent the sub- types of the monsoon climate. It is on this basis that the climatic regions can be identified. A climatic region has a homogeneous climatic condition which is the result of a combination of factors. Temperature and rainfall are two important elements which are considered to be decisive in all the schemes of climatic classification.
The classification of climate, however, is a complex exercise. There are different schemes of classification of climate. Major climatic types of India based on Koeppen’s scheme have been described below: Koeppen based his scheme of Climatic classification on monthly values of temperature and precipitation. He identified five major climatic types, namely: Tropical climates, where mean monthly temperature throughout the year is over °C.
Dry climates, where precipitation is very low in comparison to temperature, and hence, dry. If dryness is less, it is semi- arid (S); if it is more, the climate is arid(W). (iii) Warm temperate climates, where mean temperature of the coldest month is between °C and minus °C. (iv) Cool temperate climates, where mean temperature of the warmest month is over °C, and mean temperature of the coldest month is under minus °C.
(v) Ice climates, where mean temperature of the warmest month is under °C. Figure . : India : Annual Rainfall Figure . : India : Variability of Annual Rainfall Koeppen used letter symbols