CLIMATE
West Bengal has a tropical climate. The plains are hot except during the
short winter season. The mountanious region in the north is cold. On account of its
altitude but there humidity is high. The classical tradition speaks of six
seasons-Spring, Summer, the rainy, Autumn, mild Winter and severe Winter. Only four
clearly marked seasons with a brief interregnum of spring are observed, namely
the hot season, the rainy season, the post monsoon season corresponding to
autumn and the cold season. The hot season lasts from mid-March to mid-June,
with the day temperature ranging from 38o C to 45oC in
different parts of the state. At nights, a cool southerly breeze carrying
moisture from the Bay of Bengal is usually present. The high temperature often
causes troughs of low pressure to form on the plains which are compensated by
sudden briefs storms known as kal-baisakhi or 'nor-westers', accompanied
by
thunder showers. These summer storms can be quite destructive. The hills of
Darjeeling district are pleasantly cool in summer, the higher reaches are
sometimes enveloped in heavy fog. On some days, one is rewarded by
the sight of the majestic snow-girt Kanchanjunga and the eastern Sikkim ranges
and the greenness of the wooded hills and gorges that abound on all sides.
The monsoon arrives by a middle of June. Its scouts start arriving about
two
weeks before its normal onset. This is called the Chhota monsoon which
breaks the hot spell of summer. The monsoon rains in west
Bengal are caused solely by the current of wind from the Bay of Bengal.
Variability is a characteristic feature
of the monsoon in west Bengal as well
as Bangladesh and Orissa which all receive the impact of the south-west Bay
current. Breaks in the continuity of rain are not unusual, the resultant thoughts
of low pressure develop into cyclone storms especially towards the end of the
season and in early autumn.
A welcome change in the weather begins to be distinctly felt towards the end
of September. Autumn in West Bengal is the season for festivity in the fields
the golden grain of paddy starts ripening and is harvested towards the end of
the season. The conclusion of the round of the festivities marks the onset of
the winter in mid-November.
Winter, which lasts about three months, is mild over the plains, the average
minimum temperature not falling 15o C. It is attended by a cold and
dry northern wind, substantially lowering the humidity level. Winter is the
season for the rabi crops-pulses, potato and vegetables and citrus fruits that
grow on the Darjeeling hills. There occurs a short interregnum of
clouds and rain usually the last week of December and the first week of
January, caused by the incursion of the western monsoon coming all the way from
the Arabian Sea. The cold is severe on the hills and there are sometimes sleet
and snow on the higher reaches during the days of rain.
The weather gets warmer by the middle February, which heralds a
brief spring season lasting about a month during which the deciduous trees break
out in young green leaves and flowers. But this mellow season is too
short-lived and the heat is turned on until with the coming of April, clammy
summer comes in full blast and the annual cycle of seasons rolls on once again.
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