World Climate Zones and Stamp's & Koeppen’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India

CLIMATE ZONE CLASSIFICATION

POLAR AND TUNDRA

Polar climates are cold and dry, with long, dark winters. In the tundra (a treeless region bordering the Arctic), temperatures rise above freezing for only a few months each year.

BOREAL FOREST

Boreal (cold coniferous) forests lie south of the tundra, stretching across much of northern Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia. Temperatures fall below freezing for 4–6 months a year.

MOUNTAIN

On mountains, the temperature decreases with altitude (height), and many high peaks are always covered in snow. Mountain climates are usually wetter and windier than lowland regions.

TEMPERATE FOREST

Temperate climates have warm summers and cool winters with year-round rain or snow. Temperate forests are characterized by deciduous trees, which lose their leaves during the winter.

MEDITERRANEAN

A Mediterranean climate is found in regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and in Australia and California. It is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.

DESERT

Earth’s deserts are hot and dry year-round, and usually receive less than 10 in (250 mm) of rainfall a year. Deserts are often found in the center of continents, far from the sea.

DRY GRASSLAND

Dry grasslands are found in the center of continents where temperate variations are extreme. They have hot summers, cold winters, and little rainfall, so very few trees can grow there.

TROPICAL GRASSLAND

Tropical grasslands, such as the African savanna, lie between desert areas and tropical rainforests. The climate is hot all year, but with a distinct wet season and dry season.

TROPICAL RAINFOREST

Tropical rainforests are found in regions near the equator. Here, the climate is hot and wet all year, with temperatures remaining at around 80–82ºF (27–28ºC).

Climate Zone of India

Climate Zone India Stamps

Koeppen’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India

Koeppen’s Classification of Climatic Regions of India is an empirical classification based on mean annual and mean monthly temperature and precipitation data.
Koeppen identified a close relationship between the distribution of vegetation and climate.
He selected certain values of temperature and precipitation and related them to the distribution of vegetation and used these values for classifying the climates.
Koeppen recognized five major climatic groups, four of them are based on temperature and one on precipitation.
The capital letters:

A, C, D and E delineate humid climates and
B dry climates.

[Don’t have to remember all these alphabets. Only remember the climatic regions and their characteristics. That’s enough

Alphabet codes will help you to remember the concept in the long run. But if you found them hard, just ignore them]

The climatic groups are subdivided into types, designated by small letters, based on seasonality of precipitation and temperature characteristics.
The seasons of dryness are indicated by the small letters : f, m, w and s, where

f – no dry season,
m – monsoon climate,
w – winter dry season and
s – summer dry season.

The above mentioned major climatic types are further subdivided depending upon the seasonal distribution of rainfall or degree of dryness or cold.

a: hot summer, average temperature of the warmest month over 22°C

c: cool summer, average temperature of the warmest month under 22°C

f: no dry season

w: dry season in winter

s: dry season in summer

g: Ganges type of annual march of temperature; hottest month comes before the solstice and the summer rainy season.

h: average annual temperature under 18°C

m (monsoon): short dry season.

The capital letters S and W are employed to designate the two subdivisions of dry climate:

semi-arid or Steppe (S) and
arid or desert (W).

Capital letters T and F are similarly used to designate the two subdivisions of polar climate

tundra (T) and
icecap (F).

Temperate or Continental India

Region	Avg Temperature	Annual Rainfall
Himalayan Region	Sumer = 4°-7°C Winter = 13°-18°C	East = Over 200 cm West = much less
North-western Region Northern parts of Punjab and southern parts of Jammu and Kashmir	Summer = 16°C Winter = 24°C	Below 200 cm
Arid Lowland Thar desert of Rajasthan, south western part of Haryana and Kachchh of Gujarat	Winter = 16° to 24°C Summer = 48°C	Below 40 cm
Region of moderate rainfall Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Union Territory of Delhi, north-west Plateau area of Madhya Pradesh and eastern Rajasthan	Winter = 15°-18°C Summer = 33°-35°C	40 – 80 cm
Transitional Zone Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar	Winter = 15°-19°C Summer = 30° – 35°C	100 -150 cm
Tropical India
Region of very heavy rainfall Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland	Winter = 18°C in Summer = 32°-35°C	Over 200
Region of heavy rainfall Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh	Winter = 18°-24°C Summer = 29°-35°C	100 – 200 cm
Region of moderate rainfall between Western and Eastern Ghats	Winter = 18°-24°C Summer = 32°C in	50 -100 cm
Konkan Coast Mumbai in the north to Goa in the south	Annual = 24°-27°C.	Over 200 cm
Malabar Coast Goa to Kanniyakumari	Annual = 27°C	Over 250 cm
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh	Annual = 24°C	100 to 150 cm (Retreating monsoon)

Koeppen’s Scheme – Climatic Regions of India
Climate type	Region	Annual rainfall
Amw(Monsoon type with short dry winter season)	Western coastal region, south of Mumbai	over 300 cm
As(Monsoon type with dry season in high sun period)	Coromandel coast = Coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh	75 – 100 cm [wet winters, dry summers]
Aw(Tropical Savanah type)	Most parts of the peninsular plateau barring Coromandel and Malabar coastal strips	75 cm
BShw(Semi-arid Steppe type)	Some rain shadow areas of Western Ghats, large part of Rajasthan and contiguous areas of Haryana and Gujarat	12 to 25 cm
BWhw(Hot desert type)	Most of western Rajasthan	less than 12 cm
Cwg(Monsoon type with dry winters)	Most parts of the Ganga Plain, eastern Rajasthan, Assam and in Malwa Plateau	100 – 200 cm
Dfc(Cold, Humid winters type with shorter summer)	Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam	~200 cm
Et(Tundra Type)	Mountain areas of Uttarakhand The average temperature varies from 0 to 10°C	Rainfall varies from year to year.
E(Polar Type)	Higher areas of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in which the temperature of the warmest month varies from 0° to 10°C	Precipitation occurs in the form of snow