Weather, Seasons and Climate

Class 7 Social Science · Chapter 3: Climates of India · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 3.1

Learn

"Delhi has a terrible climate today!" says Ishaan, sweating. Zoya grins: "You mean weather." Weather is what we feel hour by hour and day by day. Climate is the pattern of weather over a long time, several decades at least, and it differs from region to region. Seasons come in between: they recur every year as the Earth revolves around the Sun, and the weather changes with them.

Most of the world has four seasons, but India also has a distinct rainy season, the monsoon. Traditionally the year is divided into six ṛitus: vasanta (spring), grīṣhma (summer), varṣhā (rains), śharad (autumn), hemanta (pre-winter) and śhiśhir (winter), with festivals like Vasanta Pañchamī and Śharad Pūrṇimā. Crops, food, clothes and even animals' fur follow the rhythm of the seasons.

India's climates are as varied as its land. The high Himalayas are alpine (snowy winters, cool summers); hill stations are temperate; the northern plains are subtropical (very hot summers, cold winters, India's wheat bowl); the Thar is arid; the western coastal strip is tropical wet (heavy monsoon rain, rice and spices); the central Deccan is semi-arid; and the east and south are tropical, with wet and dry periods set by the monsoon winds.

Explore: the six ṛitus.

1. Put the ṛitus in order, starting with spring.

Remember

• Weather is short-term, seasons recur yearly, climate is the long-term pattern.
• India has six traditional ṛitus and many climate types, from alpine to arid.

Quick check

"It rained heavily this afternoon" describes …

1. weather
2. climate
3. latitude
4. topography

Think about it

Which festivals in your region are tied to a season or harvest?

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.