PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL RESOURCES

CLIMATE

[This section on "Climate" was contributed by the Meteorological Department of the Government of India, Poona.]

Seasons.

 The climate of this district is generally dry except in the monsoon. The year may be divided into four seasons. The cold season from December to February is followed by the hot season from March to May. June to September is the monsoon season and October and November form the post-monsoon season.]

Rainfall.

Records of rainfall in the district are available for 13 stations  for periods extending over 70 years. The details of the rainfall at the thirteen stations and for the district as a whole are given in tables 1 and 2. The average annual rainfall in the district is 740.7 mm. (29.16'). About 87 per cent of the annual rainfall is received during the monsoon months of June to September, July being the month with the highest rainfall. The central parts of the district comprising the talukas of Jalgaon, Bhusawal, Jamner and Pachora get a little more rain than the rest of the district. Jamner, the station with the highest rainfall in the district, gets annually 802 mm. (31.58") while Amalner, the station with the least rainfall gets 675 mm. (26.58"). The_ variation of rainfall over the district from year to year is large. During the fifty-year period, 1901 to 1950, the year 1931 was the one with the highest rainfall amounting to 161 per cent of the normal. In 1918, the year with the lowest rainfall, only 53 per cent of the normal rainfall was received. In the same fifty-year period there were 11 years when the district as a whole received less than 80 per cent of the normal rainfall. Rainfall less than 80 per cent of the normal occurring in two consecutive years is not rare. Considering the district as a whole this has occurred twice. At some individual stations three such occasions have been recorded. Jamner had three consecutive years of low rainfall during 1923 to 1925 while at Edlabad the period 1922 to 1926 was one of low rainfall.

It will be seen from Table No. 2 that in 42 out of 50 years the annual rainfall in the district was between 500 and 1,000 mm.

On an average on 45 days in the year the district gets rainfall of 2.5 mm. (10 cents) or more. This number varies from 48 at Jamner to 42 at Chopda, Amalner and Paiola.

The heaviest rainfall in 24 hours at any station in the district amounted to 298.5 mm. (11.75") and occurred at Jamner on July 1, 1941.

Temperature.

Jalgaon is the only meteorological observatory in the district. The data for this station may be taken to he fairly representative of conditions prevailing in the district. December is the coldest month with the mean daily minimum temperature at 11.9° C. (53.4° F.) and the mean daily maximum at 29.8° C. (85.6° F.). Cold waves which pass over northern India sometimes affect the district and minimum temperatures may drop to within two degrees of the freezing point of water, and slight frosts may occur. Temperatures begin to rise steadily from about the beginning of March and by May, the hottest month of the year, the mean daily maximum temperature reaches 42.5° C. (108.5° F.). The highest maximum temperature recorded at Jalgaon was 47.8° C. (118.0° F.). Temperatures drop appreciably with the onset or. the monsoon after the first week of June. The monsoon period is generally pleasant. With the withdrawal of the monsoon by the end of September day temperatures rise a little in October and both day and night temperatures begin to drop rapidly by November.

Humidity.

Except during the monsoon the air is generally dry, particularly in the afternoons. Summer is the driest part of the year.

Cloudiness.

Skies are generally clear or lightly clouded except during themonsoon when heavily clouded to overcast conditions prevail.

Winds.

In summer, winds are generally light in the mornings and blowfrom directions between south-west and north-west. In the afternoons they strengthen and sometimes veer to a northerly or northeasterly direction. In the monsoon months winds are stronger and blow predominantly from south-westerly or westerly directions. During the post-monsoon and winter months the winds are light and the occasions of calms in the mornings increase. The directions from which the winds blow in the mornings are mainly between south-west and north-west. But in the afternoon they strengthen and blow mainly from directions between north and east.

Special Weather Phenomena.

In association with monsoon depressions and to a lesser extent post-monsoon storms, the district experiences strong winds and widespread rain. Thunderstorms can occur at any time of the year, but they are more common in the summer and post-monsoon months. Dust storms or dust-raising winds occur sometimes in the hot months.

Tables 3, 4 and 5 give the data of temperature and humidity, the mean wind speed and frequency of special weather phenomena, respectively, for Jalgaon.

TABLES OF RAINFALL, HUMIDITY AND WIND

TABLE No. 1

NORMALS AND EXTREMES OF RAINFALL IN JALGAON DISTRICT BASED ON DATA FOR THE YEARS 1901—50.

a Normal rainfall in mm.

b Average number of rainy days (days with rain of 2.5 mm. or more),

* Based on all available data up to 1957.

TABLE No. 1-Contd.

TABLE No. 1.

NORMALS AND EXTREMES OF RAINFALL IN JALGAON DISTRICT BASED ON DATA FOR THE YEARS 1901—50.

(a) Normal rainfall in mm.: (b) Average number of rainy days (days with rain of 2.5 mm. or more): *Based on all available data up to 1957 **Years given in brackets.

TABLE No. 1.- contd.

(a) Normal rainfall in mm.: (b) Average number of rainy days (days with rain of 2.5 mm. or more): *Based on all available data up to 1957 **Years given in brackets.

TABLE No. 2.

FREQUENCY OF ANNUAL RAINFALL IN JALGAON DISTRICT.

(Data for the years 1901—50)

TABLE No. 3.

NORMALS OF TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY (JALGAON DISTRICT).

*Hours I. S. T.

TABLE No. 4.

MEAN WIND SPEED (IN KILOMETRES PER HOUR) (JALGAON DISTRICT).

TABLE No. 5.

SPECIAL WEATHER PHENOMENA (JALGAON DISTRICT).

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