Characteristics of Monsoonal Rainfall

Monsoon is the general term for the seasonal reversing wind accompanied with the predominantly rainfall during the summer months. Monsoonal rain is mainly precipitated over west coast, Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas.

This type of rainfall is heavily governed by topographic interference. The regions of maximum precipitation vary with seasonal progress of the monsoon trough.

The monsoon rainfall has a declining trend with increasing distance from the sea. The summer rainfall comes in a heavy downpour leading to considerable run off and soil erosion.

Monsoons play a pivotal role in the agrarian economy of India because over three-fourths of the total rain in the country is received during the south- west monsoon season.

Its spatial distribution is also uneven which ranges from 12 cm to more than 250 cm. The beginning of the rains sometimes is considerably delayed over the whole or a part of the country.

The rains sometimes end considerably earlier than usual, causing great damage to standing crops and making the sowing of winter crops difficult.