Overview
The northeast monsoon is the winter monsoon of India. After the southwest monsoon withdraws in October, winds blowing from the north-east cross the Bay of Bengal, pick up moisture and bring rain to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka and Kerala between October and December. For Tamil Nadu it is the main rainy season of the year. The same months are the retreating monsoon season for the rest of the country, when the southwest monsoon pulls back from the north-west to the south and skies clear over the northern plains. The seasonal reversal of the winds therefore makes Chennai wettest in November and Mangaluru wettest in July, and that contrast is the clearest example of how unevenly monsoon rain is spread across India.
Retreating Monsoon Season: Withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon
Withdrawal Dates of the Monsoon Under the 2020 Normals
The retreating monsoon begins when the southwest monsoon weakens at the end of the rainy season. As the sun moves south, the low pressure trough over the Ganga plain also shifts southward and can no longer draw moist winds inland. By the beginning of October the low pressure covers the northern Bay of Bengal, by early November it lies over Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and by the middle of December it has left the Peninsula altogether.
IMD declares the withdrawal of the monsoon one region at a time, and in 2020 it adopted new normal dates of withdrawal based on data for 1971 to 2019:
- 17 September: The monsoon starts withdrawing from the north-western parts of the country, more than two weeks later than the old normal of 1 September.
- 20 September: It withdraws from more parts of Rajasthan and some parts of north Gujarat, western Punjab and Haryana.
- 1 October: It leaves most of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and west Uttar Pradesh.
- 15 October: The withdrawal covers most of the country, including Maharashtra, Goa, north Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and the entire north-east; the monsoon then retreats from the remaining areas and the northeast monsoon sets in over the south Peninsula.
The start of the withdrawal is the date that changed most. NCERT still gives the first week of September for the retreat from western Rajasthan, in line with the old normals of 1901 to 1940. The 15 October line, by which the monsoon has left most of the country except the south Peninsula and some parts of central India, coincides with the old normal. Withdrawal also moves faster than onset. The monsoon takes from 1 June to 8 July to cover India but leaves most of it in about four weeks. It reaches the north-west last and leaves it first, so the rainy season is far shorter there than in the south.
October Heat and Clear Skies over North India
The retreating monsoon season is marked by clear skies and rising temperatures over most of India. The land is still moist from the summer rain, and the combination of high temperature and humidity makes the weather oppressive, a condition known as the October heat. In the second half of October the temperature begins to fall rapidly, particularly in northern India, and the season slides into the cold weather of November.
The weather of these months is dry in north India but wet on the eastern side of the Peninsula, where October and November are the rainiest months of the year.
Northeast Monsoon: Mechanism, Onset and Rainfall Regions
How the Northeast Monsoon Forms over the Bay of Bengal
The northeast monsoon is the return of the north-east trade wind regime over South Asia. As the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) moves south after the summer, high pressure builds over the cooling land of northern India, and winds start blowing from the north-west high pressure zone towards the low pressure over the Indian Ocean. Down the Ganga valley they blow from the west or north-west, they turn northerly in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, and over the open Bay of Bengal, free of the influence of relief, they become clearly north-easterly.
These winds bring rain only where they have crossed the sea. Over most of India they move from land to sea, carry little humidity and sit under anticyclonic conditions, so they give almost no rain. The Bay of Bengal cuts deep into India's eastern coast, and the north-east winds crossing it pick up moisture and bring torrential rain to the Tamil Nadu coast, southern Andhra Pradesh, south-east Karnataka and south-east Kerala. Outside India, the same regime brings rain to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the southern coast of Myanmar.
Depressions and cyclones from the Bay of Bengal carry much of this rain, and the bulk of the Coromandel coast's rainfall comes from them.
Onset and Normal Dates of the Northeast Monsoon
IMD announces the start of the northeast monsoon rains when the winds and the rain over the south-eastern Peninsula change together. The low-level winds turn from south-westerly to north-easterly after the southwest monsoon has withdrawn up to about 15° N; easterly winds set in over the south Peninsula and the south and central Bay of Bengal; and fairly widespread rain begins over Tamil Nadu and the adjoining coasts.
- Easterlies set in: The normal date for easterly winds to establish over the south-eastern Peninsula is 14 October.
- Onset of the rains: The normal onset over coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh is 20 October.
- Peak months: October and November are the wettest months on the Tamil Nadu coast.
- End of the season: The low pressure leaves the Peninsula by the middle of December, and IMD closes the season at the end of December.
The onset can come early. In 2025 the northeast monsoon began on 16 October, four days before the normal date, on the same day the southwest monsoon withdrew from the country.
Retreating Monsoon and Northeast Monsoon: How the Two Differ
The retreating monsoon and the northeast monsoon describe the same months from two sides. The retreating monsoon is the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, the season of October and November in the traditional four seasons of the Indian climate (the cold weather, hot weather, southwest monsoon and retreating monsoon seasons). The northeast monsoon is the wind and rain regime that replaces it, and IMD measures its rainfall over October to December. IMD's own four seasons count October to December as the post-monsoon season.
The northeast monsoon also differs from the southwest monsoon in its winds, its reach, its rain-bearing systems and its reliability.
| Feature | Southwest monsoon | Northeast monsoon |
|---|---|---|
| Season | June to September | October to December |
| Wind direction | From the south-west, off the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal | From the north-east, off the land, turning moist only over the Bay of Bengal |
| Area that gets rain | Almost all of India | Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka and Kerala |
| Share of rain | About 75 per cent of India's annual rainfall | About 30 per cent of the south Peninsula's annual rainfall, and about 48 per cent of Tamil Nadu's |
| Main rain-bearing systems | Monsoon lows and depressions moving along the monsoon trough | Easterly winds, depressions and cyclones from the Bay of Bengal |
| Cyclones | Monsoon depressions generally do not intensify, because of high vertical wind shear | Depressions of this season can intensify into cyclonic storms |
| Year-to-year variation | All-India rainfall varies by about 10 per cent of its mean | Varies by about 20 to 35 per cent of the mean in the subdivisions it covers |
Northeast Monsoon in Tamil Nadu and the South Peninsula
Five Meteorological Subdivisions and Their Rainfall Normals
IMD measures the northeast monsoon over five meteorological subdivisions of the south Peninsula: Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal; Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam; Rayalaseema; Kerala and Mahe; and South Interior Karnataka. Together they receive about 30 per cent of their annual rainfall in October to December. The long period average (LPA) for the region over these three months, based on 1971 to 2020, is 334.1 mm, and IMD calls a season normal when rainfall falls within 88 to 112 per cent of it.
| Subdivision | Normal (mm) | 2025 (mm) |
|---|---|---|
| Kerala and Mahe | 491.9 | 388.3 |
| Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal | 442.8 | 428.9 |
| Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam | 322.9 | 394.7 |
| Rayalaseema | 236.4 | 314.7 |
| South Interior Karnataka | 199.0 | 188.5 |
The coastal subdivisions receive the most rain. Kerala and Tamil Nadu have the highest normals, while South Interior Karnataka, far inland on the plateau, receives less than half as much as Kerala. The 2025 season was uneven. The region as a whole received 102 per cent of its LPA, yet Rayalaseema was in excess and Kerala deficient. Within Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli district recorded large excess rainfall while 12 districts were deficient.
Why Tamil Nadu Is Dry in Summer and Wet in Winter
The winter monsoon is the chief rainy season of Tamil Nadu. The annual normal of the Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal subdivision is 921.4 mm, and October to December bring 442.8 mm of it, about 48 per cent. The state misses most of the summer rain for two reasons:
- Parallel coast: The Tamil Nadu coast runs parallel to the Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon, so the summer winds blow along it rather than onto it.
- Rain shadow: The state lies in the rain shadow of the Arabian Sea branch, which drops its moisture on the Western Ghats before it can reach the east.
The two coasts of the Peninsula therefore have opposite rainy seasons. Mangaluru, on the windward west coast, receives 1,160.3 mm in July alone and only 75.2 mm in November. Chennai receives 113.1 mm in July and 377.3 mm in November. Bengaluru, on the plateau between them, gets rain from both monsoons, with its wettest months in September and October, but its annual normal of 1,077.8 mm is less than a third of Mangaluru's 3,774.1 mm because the Western Ghats have already removed most of the summer moisture.
Northeast Monsoon in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the Island Territories
The northeast monsoon matters well beyond Tamil Nadu. Kerala and Mahe have the highest October to December normal of the five subdivisions, so Kerala, already wet in summer, receives a second rainy season in autumn. On the Andhra coast, the deltas of the Godavari and Krishna lie on the track of the season's cyclones.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands receive rain in both seasons. They have a humid tropical monsoon climate, and the southwest monsoon reaches them around 22 May, about 10 days before its normal onset over Kerala on 1 June. The islands are small and surrounded by sea, so they stay warm all year, cooled by sea breezes. Their wettest months are those of the summer monsoon, from May to September, but the northeast monsoon months still bring heavy rain, and only February to April are nearly dry. In 2017, for example, the islands received 247.8 mm in October and 270.3 mm in December but under 10 mm in February.
Cyclones of the Retreating Monsoon Season
Bay of Bengal Cyclones and the Coromandel Coast
The retreating monsoon season is the main cyclone season of the North Indian Ocean. During the southwest monsoon, strong vertical wind shear keeps monsoon depressions from growing into cyclonic storms, which is why cyclones are rare in July and August. Depressions forming in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons meet weaker shear and can intensify into cyclonic storms. Post-monsoon storms are also the larger ones, about 1,200 km across on average against about 800 km for a pre-monsoon storm.
These cyclonic depressions form over the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and cross the eastern coast of the southern Peninsula. They are very destructive, and the thickly populated deltas of the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri are struck most often. A few also strike the coasts of West Bengal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Such storms are less frequent in the Arabian Sea, so in these months the east coast faces a much greater cyclone risk than the west coast.
All four cyclonic storms of 2025 over the North Indian Ocean formed in the post-monsoon season:
- Shakti (1 to 7 October): A severe cyclonic storm over the Arabian Sea that weakened over the sea.
- Montha (25 to 30 October): A severe cyclonic storm that crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast near Narsapur, south of Kakinada, on 28 October and claimed nine lives in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Senyar (25 to 27 November): A cyclonic storm that formed in the Strait of Malacca and crossed Indonesia.
- Ditwah (26 November to 3 December): A cyclonic storm that crossed Sri Lanka, where 410 deaths were confirmed, and then weakened near the north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts, bringing torrential rain on 2 December.
Regional Variation of Rainfall in India
Rainfall Regions of India: Heavy, Medium and Low Rainfall Zones
India's average annual rainfall is about 125 cm, but its distribution across the country is very uneven. Rainfall is shown on maps by isohyets, lines joining points that receive equal rainfall in a given period, and the isohyets of 200 cm, 100 cm and 50 cm divide India into four broad rainfall regions:
- High rainfall, over 200 cm: The west coast, the Western Ghats, the sub-Himalayan areas of the north-east and the hills of Meghalaya; parts of the Khasi and Jaintia hills exceed 1,000 cm.
- Medium rainfall, 100 to 200 cm: Southern Gujarat, east Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, eastern Madhya Pradesh, the northern Ganga plain along the sub-Himalayas, the Cachar Valley and Manipur.
- Low rainfall, 50 to 100 cm: Western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, eastern Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Deccan Plateau.
- Inadequate rainfall, below 50 cm: Parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Ladakh and most of western Rajasthan.
The northeast monsoon explains one exception in this pattern. East Tamil Nadu falls in the medium rainfall belt even though it lies in the rain shadow of the summer monsoon, because its rain comes in October to December.
The wettest station of all is Mawsynram, on the crest of the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, which receives the highest average annual rainfall in the world, 11,872 mm (nearly 1,190 cm). A sub-branch of the Bay of Bengal monsoon strikes the Garo and Khasi hills, and the moist air forced up their slopes sheds its water there.
Western Ghats Rain Shadow and the Thar Desert
Relief explains why places at the same latitude can receive very different amounts of rain. The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon climbs the slopes of the Western Ghats, which rise 900 to 1,200 m, cools and gives the windward slopes very heavy rainfall of 250 to 400 cm. After crossing the crest, the winds descend and warm up, their humidity falls, and they bring little rain east of the Ghats. This dry leeward belt is the rain shadow area of the Deccan.
The rain shadow shapes the climate of much of the plateau. A semi-arid belt east of the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills, covering Karnataka, inland Tamil Nadu, western Andhra Pradesh and central Maharashtra, receives only 400 to 750 mm (40 to 75 cm) a year and is drought-prone because the southwest monsoon is sometimes late or fails there. South of the Krishna River, the same belt receives significant rain in October and November from the northeast monsoon.
The Thar Desert is dry for a different reason. The stream of the Arabian Sea branch that strikes Saurashtra and Kachchh passes over west Rajasthan parallel to the Aravallis, so the hills do not force it to rise and it gives only scanty rain. Most of the Thar's rainfall comes from the southwest monsoon and averages less than 500 mm (50 cm) a year; Jaisalmer's normal is 256.9 mm.
East-to-West Decline of Rainfall Across the Northern Plains
Rainfall across the northern plains falls from east to west. The Bay of Bengal branch moves westward along the Ganga plains as far as the Punjab plains, and the farther it travels from the sea, the less rain it brings. In the Peninsula the gradient runs the other way, from the wet windward west coast to the drier interior east of the Ghats.
| Station | Normal annual rainfall (mm) | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Kochi | 2,953.5 | Kerala coast, windward of the Western Ghats |
| Kolkata | 1,813.3 | Ganga delta, near the Bay of Bengal |
| Chennai | 1,408.4 | Coromandel coast, northeast monsoon region |
| Patna | 1,077.6 | Middle Ganga plain |
| Delhi | 774.4 | Western Ganga plain |
| Jaisalmer | 256.9 | Thar Desert |
The decline from Kolkata to Patna to Delhi follows the Bay of Bengal branch inland, and Jaisalmer, in the Thar, receives less than a seventh of Kolkata's rain. Kochi, on the windward coast of the Peninsula, receives more than Kolkata, Patna or Delhi.
Seasonal Pattern and Variability of Rainfall in India
Rainfall Across the Four IMD Seasons
The Indian meteorological year is divided into four seasons, and each brings rain to a different part of the country. The southwest monsoon season of June to September is the chief rainy season and gives about 75 per cent of the country's annual rainfall. The four seasons and their rain are:
- Winter, January and February: Western disturbances bring meagre rain to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh and snow to the lower Himalayas; the average winter rainfall in Delhi is around 53 mm.
- Pre-monsoon, March to May: Local storms form where moist and dry air meet, such as the nor'westers of Bengal and Assam and the pre-monsoon showers of Kerala and coastal Karnataka.
- Southwest monsoon, June to September: Rain reaches almost the whole country through the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal branches.
- Post-monsoon, October to December: The northeast monsoon and Bay of Bengal cyclones bring the main rain of the south-eastern Peninsula, while the north stays dry.
Western disturbances are shallow cyclonic depressions that originate over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and travel east across West Asia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before they reach north-west India, driven by the westerlies, the prevailing winds of the middle latitudes. Their rain is small in amount but highly beneficial for the rabi crops, and the snow they leave on the lower Himalayas sustains the flow of the Himalayan rivers in summer.
The seasons do not move together from year to year. In 2025, India received 110 per cent of its LPA for the year, but winter rainfall was only 52 per cent of its LPA, while the pre-monsoon, southwest monsoon and post-monsoon seasons received 142, 108 and 111 per cent.
Coefficient of Variation, Breaks and Ocean Drivers of Rainfall
Variability is measured by the standard deviation of rainfall from year to year, and as a share of the mean it is called the coefficient of variation. For India as a whole the southwest monsoon is fairly dependable, with a standard deviation of about 10 per cent of the mean. The northeast monsoon is far less steady, with a coefficient of variation of about 20 to 35 per cent in its five subdivisions, each of them a much smaller area than India as a whole. Reliability also differs between regions, and the semi-arid rain shadow belt of the Deccan is drought-prone because its rainfall is less reliable than that of the coasts.
Variation within a season is also regional. When the monsoon trough moves north to the foothills of the Himalaya, most of India has a break in the monsoon, while the foothills receive heavy rain and the Brahmaputra may flood. On the west coast, dry spells come on days when the winds blow parallel to the coast instead of onto it. The Ganga delta and the coastal plains of Odisha are hit by rain-bearing storms almost every third or fifth day in July and August, while the Coromandel coast, about 1,000 km to the south, stays generally dry in those months.
The northeast monsoon also responds to the oceans in its own way. The southwest monsoon tends to be weak in El Niño years, when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are well above average. For the northeast monsoon, El Niño goes with good rain, and so does a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, when the western Indian Ocean is warmer than the eastern part, and a strong Madden-Julian Oscillation, an eastward-moving pattern of cloud and rain along the equator.
Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions
Each question is explained option by option.
- UPSC Prelims 2026With reference to the climate of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- The climate can be defined as a humid, tropical coastal climate.
- It receives rainfall from both South-west monsoon and North-east monsoon.
- Maximum precipitation is between December and May.
Select the answer using the code given below:
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Judge statement 1 against the islands' climate and statements 2 and 3 against their monthly rainfall, then pick the code.
- Statement 1: The islands are small and surrounded by sea, always warm with sea breezes, and have a tropical monsoon climate, so a humid, tropical coastal climate describes them; the statement is correct.
- Statement 2: The southwest monsoon reaches the islands around 22 May and brings their wettest months, and the northeast monsoon months still bring heavy rain (247.8 mm in October and 270.3 mm in December 2017), so the statement is correct.
- Statement 3: The wettest months run from May to September, and February to April are nearly dry, so the maximum does not fall between December and May; the statement is wrong.
Trap to watch: Students who know the islands are wet for most of the year may accept statement 3, but December to May takes in the nearly dry months of February to April.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. It leaves out statement 2, although the islands also receive heavy rain in October to December.
- (b) 1 and 2: Correct. The islands have a warm, sea-bound tropical climate, and rain falls in both monsoon seasons.
- (c) 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 3 is false, because the islands' wettest months run from May to September.
- (d) 3 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is the one false statement, and statements 1 and 2 are both true.
Answer: (b) 1 and 2. The islands have a tropical monsoon climate and receive rain in both monsoon seasons, while their heaviest rain falls from May to September.
- UPSC Prelims 2005Which one of the following is the correct sequence of the given Indian cities in the decreasing order of their normal annual rainfall?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Place the four cities by the two patterns of Indian rainfall, then check against their normals. The windward west coast receives the heaviest rain, so Kochi, with 2,953.5 mm, comes before Kolkata, with 1,813.3 mm. Rainfall on the northern plains falls from east to west as the Bay of Bengal branch moves inland, so Kolkata comes before Patna (1,077.6 mm), and Patna before Delhi (774.4 mm).
Trap to watch: Students who remember Kolkata as a very wet delta city may put it first, forgetting that on the Kerala coast the Arabian Sea branch is forced up the Western Ghats and sheds far more rain.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Kochi – Kolkata – Delhi – Patna: Wrong. Delhi, farther west on the plains, receives less rain than Patna.
- (b) Kolkata – Kochi – Patna – Delhi: Wrong. Kochi on the windward Kerala coast receives more rain than Kolkata.
- (c) Kochi – Kolkata – Patna – Delhi: Correct. It follows the windward-coast maximum and the east-to-west decline across the plains.
- (d) Kolkata – Kochi – Delhi – Patna: Wrong. Both pairs are reversed, since Kochi is wetter than Kolkata and Patna wetter than Delhi.
Answer: (c) Kochi – Kolkata – Patna – Delhi. Kochi on the windward coast is wettest, and rainfall then falls from Kolkata to Patna to Delhi along the Ganga plain.
- UPSC Prelims 2004Assertion and Reason:
- Assertion (A): Bangalore receives much higher average annual rainfall than Mangalore.
- Reason (R): Bangalore has the benefit of receiving rainfall both from south-west and north-east monsoons.
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test the Assertion and the Reason separately, and ask about the link only if both are true.
- Assertion: Mangaluru lies on the windward coast of the Western Ghats and has a normal annual rainfall of 3,774.1 mm, while Bengaluru, on the plateau beyond the Ghats, has 1,077.8 mm, so the Assertion is false.
- Reason: Bengaluru receives rain in the southwest monsoon months and again in October and November, so the Reason is true.
Trap to watch: The Reason is true, and students assume that two rainy seasons must add up to more rain; the Western Ghats remove most of the summer moisture before it reaches Bengaluru.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Both A and R are individually true and R is the correct explanation of A: Wrong. The Assertion is false, because Mangaluru receives about three and a half times Bengaluru's rain.
- (b) Both A and R are individually true but R is not the correct explanation of A: Wrong. The Assertion is false, so both cannot be true.
- (c) A is true but R is false: Wrong. The Assertion is false and the Reason is true.
- (d) A is false but R is true: Correct. Mangaluru is far wetter, and Bengaluru does receive rain from both monsoons.
Answer: (d) A is false but R is true. Mangaluru, on the windward side of the Western Ghats, receives far more rain than Bengaluru, even though Bengaluru gets rain from both monsoons.
Sources
- NCERT: India: Physical Environment (Class XI), Climate (current edition)
- India Meteorological Department (Chennai): Report on Northeast Monsoon 2025
- India Meteorological Department: Seasonal Outlook for Rainfall during the Post-Monsoon Season 2026 (30 September 2026)
- India Meteorological Department (Chennai): Withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon and Commencement of Northeast Monsoon (15 October 2026)
- India Meteorological Department: Monthly Outlook for Rainfall and Temperature for November 2026 (31 October 2026)
- India Meteorological Department: New Normal Dates of Onset and Withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon over India (2020)
- India Meteorological Department (Pune): Frequently Asked Questions on Monsoon
- India Meteorological Department (Pune): Statement on the Climate of India during 2025
- Andaman and Nicobar Administration (Directorate of Economics and Statistics): Basic Statistics 2018‑19, Climate
- Wikipedia: Climate of India
- Wikipedia: Mawsynram
- Wikipedia: Thar Desert
- Wikipedia: Contour line
- Wikipedia: Chennai
- Wikipedia: Mangaluru
- Wikipedia: Bengaluru
- Wikipedia: Kochi
- Wikipedia: Kolkata
- Wikipedia: Patna
- Wikipedia: Climate of Delhi
- Wikipedia: Jaisalmer
- Wikipedia: Port Blair
- Wikipedia: Andaman Islands
- Wikipedia: Western disturbance
- Wikipedia: Westerlies
- Wikipedia: Indian Ocean Dipole
- Wikipedia: Monsoon of South Asia
- UPSC: Civil Services Examination question papers
Editorial Disclaimer
This article draws on the current NCERT geography textbook, the India Meteorological Department and the other sources listed above. Station normals are IMD's figures as given on the pages listed above; the dates of withdrawal are IMD's.
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