Climate

Class 11 Geography · India Physical Environment · Chapter 4

163 members in the CBSE community

View all
  • Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each, common traps
  • 8 marks: Climate unit, Ch 7–10
  • 5 marks: map work, covered
  • 4 marks: ocean data as charts, Unit V
  • Heat budget and five air layers as charts
  • Common traps, corrected
Page 1 free about 8 min read, Full kit about 55 min read
  • Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each, common traps
  • 12 marks: Climate, Vegetation (Unit III)
  • Full CBSE map-work list, chapter by chapter
  • Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra river systems
  • Monsoon mechanism, onset and four seasons
  • Common traps, corrected
Page 1 free about 8 min read, Full kit about 55 min read
  • Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each
  • 4 marks: Map Scale, conversions worked
  • 4 marks: Latitude, Longitude and Time
  • 4 marks: Topographical Maps, contours
  • 5 marks: practical file and viva
  • Conical and Mercator's construction steps
Page 1 free about 8 min read, Full kit about 55 min read
View all 44 amazing Marks Booster kits →

Summary

India has a hot monsoonal climate marked by the seasonal reversal of winds, with broad unity but many regional variations in temperature and rainfall (from over 1,080 cm at Mawsynram to under 9 cm at Jaisalmer). India's climate is controlled by latitude, the Himalayas (which shield the subcontinent from cold northern winds and trap the monsoon), distribution of land and water, distance from the sea, altitude and relief. The monsoon mechanism involves the differential heating of land and sea, the northward shift of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the southeast trades crossing the equator to become the south-west monsoon, and the easterly jet stream. The south-west monsoon sets in over Kerala by 1 June and engulfs the country by mid-July; a "break in the monsoon" is a dry spell during the rainy season. The meteorologists recognise four seasons: the cold weather season, the hot weather season (with local storms like the "loo", mango showers and nor’westers), the south-west monsoon season (with the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal branches) and the retreating monsoon season (October–November, bringing cyclones to the eastern coast). El Nino influences monsoon forecasting. The chapter also notes the impact of the monsoon on India's economy and the concern of global warming. (Refer to the map in the NCERT textbook.)

Climate

Key terms

Monsoon
the climate of seasonal reversal in the direction of winds.
Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
the low-pressure zone at the equator where trade winds converge and air ascends.
Break in the monsoon
a dry spell of one or more weeks during the south-west monsoon season.
Loo
the hot, dry, oppressing wind that blows over the northern plains in the hot weather season.
Nor’westers
dreaded evening thunderstorms of Bengal and Assam, locally called Kalbaisakhi.
El Nino
a warm-current weather system off the Peru coast used in forecasting Indian monsoon rainfall.

Extra questions & answers

Try one from this chapter
The word "monsoon" connotes the climate associated with:
Flashcards & interactive practice

Practice quiz · Climate

Score on this chapter, climb the leaderboard, and get an AI diagnosis of your mistakes.

Double-checked questions Real exam pattern 1 free test every month, then ₹9 per test

#1

Climate

Start here
Geography 10 Qs · ~10 min

Instant score, answer review and weak-topic diagnosis

#2

World Climate and Climate Change

Geography 10 Qs · ~10 min

Instant score, answer review and weak-topic diagnosis

Data & insights

Trending in Class 11 this weekThe chapters students are reading most right now
  1. 1The AdventureEnglish
  2. 2The Portrait of a LadyEnglish
  3. 3The AddressEnglish
See the full ranking