centre of low pressure is completely removed from the Peninsula. The retreating southwest monsoon season is marked by clear skies and rise in temperature. The land is still moist. Owing to the conditions of high temperature and humidity, the weather becomes rather oppressive.
This is commonly known as the ‘October heat’. In the second half of October, the mercury begins to fall rapidly, particularly in northern India. The weather in the retreating monsoon is dry in north India but it is associated with rain in the eastern part of the Peninsula. Here, October and November are the rainiest months of the year.
The widespread rain in this season is associated with the passage of cyclonic depressions which originate over the Andaman Sea and manage to cross the eastern coast of the southern Peninsula. These tropical cyclones are very destructive. The thickly populated deltas of the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri are their preferred targets. Every year cyclones bring disaster here.
A few cyclonic storms also strike the coast of West Bengal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. A bulk of the rainfall of the Coromondal coast is derived from these depressions and cyclones. Such cyclonic storms are less frequent in the Arabian Sea. T RADITIONAL I NDIAN S EASONS In the Indian tradition, a year is divided into six two-monthly seasons.
This cycle of seasons, which the common people in north and central India follow is based on their practical experience and age-old perception of weather phenomena. However, this system does not match with the seasons of south India where there is little variation in the seasons. Seasons Months Months (According to the (According to the Indian Calendar) Indian Calendar) Vasanta Chaitra-Vaisakha March-April Grishma Jyaistha-Asadha May-June Varsha Sravana-Bhadra July-August Sharada Asvina-Kartika September-October Hemanta Margashirsa-Pausa November-December Shishira Magha-Phalguna January-February Distribution of Rainfall The average annual rainfall in India is about cm, but it has great spatial variations (Figure . ).
Areas of High Rainfall : The highest rainfall occurs along the west coast, on the Western Ghats, as well as in the sub-Himalayan areas is the northeast and the hills of Meghalaya. Here the