Climate of Uttar Pradesh

The **climate of Uttar Pradesh** (U.P.) is varying within Uttar Pradesh, a state of India. The dominating climate type is *humid subtropical with dry winter* (CWa) with parts of Western U.P having a semiarid climate (BS). Alternatively, some authors refer to it as *tropical monsoon climate*. Some regional variations exist, however the uniformity of the vast Indo-Gangetic Plain, gives to the state a mostly single climatic pattern with minor regional variations. The temperature varies within the year. The extreme low and high temperatures are usually from 0&nbsp;°C to 50&nbsp;°C in several parts. During the monsoon season, floods often take place, due to heavy rain. The summers are extremely hot, the winters are cold and the rainy season can be either very wet or very dry.

## Seasons of Uttar Pradesh 
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) defines the climate of India into the following seasons:

# Winter Season / Cold Weather Season (January and February)
# Summer season/ Pre-monsoon season/ Hot weather season/ Thunderstorm season (March, April and May)
# South-west Monsoon/ Summer Monsoon (June, July, August and September)
# Post-monsoon or Northeast monsoon or Retreating Southwest Monsoon season (October, November and December)

This classification is primarily centered on Monsoons, which are very significant for the local population and agriculture of India.

## Classification of the Uttar Pradesh climate 
The climate of Uttar Pradesh is generally defined to be *tropical monsoon climate*. However based on the Köppen climate classification, it can be classified mostly as *Humid Subtropical with dry winter (CWa) type* with parts of Western Uttar Pradesh falling in the semi-arid category.

Based on IMD classification, Uttar Pradesh has the following three predominant seasons:

# Winter Season - November until February
# Summer season - March until May
# South-west Monsoon - June until October

Retreating Monsoon season, although existent, has a very negligible effect in Uttar Pradesh and only occasional mild showers are experienced in winter. Some of these showers aren't caused by post-monsoon rainfall but due to western disturbances. At least 62 people died during the heat wave that year. In June 2009, another 30 people during a heat wave in Uttar Pradesh. Highest temperatures reached 49&nbsp;°C in Bundelkhand district of northern Uttar Pradesh. In June 2010, Jhansi recorded the highest temperature of 46.7&nbsp;°C, the hottest for U.P. for that year.

### Cold waves 
In recent years, winters at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 caused an increase of cold-wave related deaths in U.P. with temperatures dipping to 2.8&nbsp;°C in the city of Meerut. Simultaneously it also led to a loss of crops and agricultural produce. Similarly, in 2009, the temperature dropped up to 2.9&nbsp;°C in Meerut, causing deaths. On late 2010 and early 2011, this winter also caused cold-wave related deaths. This time, Churk town in Sonabhadra district recorded the lowest temperature, at 1.4&nbsp;°C. and North-East Monsoon also contribute small quantities towards the overall rainfall of the state. The estimated annual losses due to floods in U.P. reach .

### Droughts in Uttar Pradesh 
Shortage of rain during the highly variable Monsoon season can cause droughts in U.P. leading to several deaths and loss of property. The recent 2002 and 2004 drought-related financial estimates report financial losses of  and  respectively. The recurrence of a major deficiency in annual rainfall follows a 6–8 years cycle in Eastern U.P. whereas in Western U.P., follows a 10 year cycle.

## Wind 
In summers, hot winds called *loo* blow all across U.P. They are carrying dust and cause significant damage. In winters, dry and rainless winds blow across the state. Fog may also form in parts of U.P.

## Related pages 
* Geography of Uttar Pradesh
* Uttar Pradesh
* Climate

## References