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Indian Geography / Indian Climate

Climatic Regions of India


Depending on the distribution of rainfall, India can be classified into different climatic regions or climatic zones. These climatic regions of India are (i) Per-Humid zone, (ii) Humid zone, (iii) Sub-humid zone, (iv) Semi-Arid zone and (v) Arid zone.

Per-Humid Zone

These regions are having very high rainfall of more than 200 cm. These areas are generally located in windward side of the mountains hit by South west monsoon. These areas include Andaman and Nicobar Islands and windward sides of Western Ghats (Sahyadri Ranges), Garo, Naga, Khasi and Jaintia Hills.

Humid Zone

These regions are having high rainfall ranging between 120 to 200 cm. These areas include Terai region, North East region, eastern plateau hills and rest of Sahyadri hills (mainly Goa).

Semi-Arid Zone

These regions are having low rainfall ranging between 30 to 60 cm. These areas include parts of Punjab, Haryana and North Rajasthan region and rain shadow region of Western Ghats which includes West Telangana, Rayalaseema, North Karnataka plateau and Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

Arid Zone

These regions are having very low rainfall of less than 30 cm. Rainfall is very low here because of absence of orographic obstacles to stop the monsoon. These areas include Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat and West Rajasthan.

Sub-Humid Zone

These regions are having moderate rainfall ranging between 60 to 120 cm. Rest of the climatic regions of India where the above four regions are not covered, come under this zone.