The Climate of India comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic

scale and varied topography, making generalisations difficult. India hosts six major climatic
subtypes, ranging from arid desert in the west, alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, and
humid tropical regions supporting rainforests in the southwest and the island territories. Many
regions have starkly different microclimates.
The nation has four seasons: winter (December, January and February), summer (March, April
and May), a monsoon rainy season (June to September), and a post-monsoon period
(October to November).
India's geography and geology are climatically pivotal: the Thar Desert in the northwest and
the Himalayas in the north work in tandem to effect a culturally and economically important
monsoonal regime.

As Earth's highest and most massive mountain range, the Himalayas bar the influx of
frigid katabatic winds from the icy Tibetan Plateau and northerly Central Asia.
Most of North India is thus kept warm or is only mildly chilly or cold during winter; the same
thermal dam keeps most regions in India hot in summer.
Though the Tropic of Cancer—the boundary between the tropics and subtropics—passes
through the middle of India, the bulk of the country can be regarded as climatically tropical. As in
much of the tropics, monsoonal and other weather patterns in India can be wildly unstable:
epochal droughts, floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters are sporadic, but have displaced
or ended millions of human lives.

There is one scientific opinion which states that in South Asia such climatic events are likely to
change in unpredictability, frequency, and severity. Ongoing and future vegetative changes
and current sea level rises and the attendant inundation of India's low-lying coastal areas are
other impacts, current or predicted, that are attributable to global warming.

Tropical wet (humid) climate group : The regions belonging to this group experience
persistent high temperatures which normally do not go below 18 °C even in the coolest month.

Dry climate group : This group consists of regions where the rate of evaporation of water is
higher than the rate of moisture received through precipitation.

Sub-tropical humid climate group :The temperature during the coldest months in regions
experiencing this climate falls between 18 and 0 °C.
Natural vegetation are gifts of nature. They grow naturally. They follow the climatic
variables. Due to a variety of climates, a wide range of natural vegetation grows in India.
Types of natural vegetation vary according to climate, soil and altitude. A study of the
distribution of the forests in India reveals that there is a marked relation between the rainfall
zones and their belts of natural vegetation.

Tropical Evergreen Rain Forests: These forests grow in areas where rainfall is more than
200 cm. They are mainly found on the slopes of the Western Ghats and the north-eastern
regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, the Tarai areas of the
Himalayas and the Andaman groups of Islands. The trees in these forests never shed their
leaves all at a time in any part of the year.

Deciduous or Monsoon type of Forests: These forests are found in areas where the
rainfall is between 100 cm and 200 cm. These forests grow on the lower slope of the
Himalayas, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattishgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and the adjoining regions. The trees of these forests
shed their leaves during dry-winter and dry-summer.

Dry Deciduous Forests and Scrubs: These forests grow in areas where the rainfall is
between 50 cm and 100 cm. These are found in areas of central Deccan plateau, south-east
of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Dwarf
deciduous trees and long-grasses grow in these regions.

Semi-deserts and Deserts vegetation: These types of vegetation grow in areas where
rainfall is less than 50 cm mostly thorny bushes, acacia, babul and sand binding grasses
(graminoids) are found in this vegetation zone. The Indian wild date, known as “Khejur” is
common in these deserts. These plants grow far apart from each other.

Tidal or Mangrove Forests: These forests grow along the coast and on the edges of the
deltas, e.g. the deltas of the Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. Tides plays
an important role in formation of mud and silt along these coastal mangrove forests. They
are called ‘Tidal Forests’ because their dense growth depends upon tidal water which
submerges the deltaic lands during high tides.

Mountain Forests: Mountain forests vary considerably according to altitude with varying
rainfall and temperature along the slopes of mountain.
India boasts a variety of species and organisms. Apart from a handful of the major farm
animals such as cows, buffaloes, goats, chickens, and both bactrian camels and, dromedary
camels, India has an amazingly wide spectrum of animals native to the country. It is home
to Bengal and Indochinese tigers, Asiatic Lions, leopards, snow leopards, Clouded leopards,
various species of deer, including chital, Hangul, barasingha; the Indian elephant, the great
indian rhinoceros, and many more amongst others.
The region's rich and diverse wildlife is preserved in 120+ national parks, 18 bio-
reserves and 500+ wildlife sanctuaries across the country. India has some of the most
biodiverse regions of the world and hosts four of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots – or
treasure-houses – that is the western ghats, the eastern himalayas, indo-burma and nicobar
islands in sundaland.
Since India is home to a number of rare and threatened animal species, wildlife
management in the country is essential to preserve these species. India is one of the
seventeen megadiverse countries. According to one study, India along with other 16 mega
diverse countries is home to about 60-70% of the world's biodiversity. India, lying within
the Indomalaya ecozone, is home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian (bird),
6.2% of reptilian, and 6.0% of flowering plant species.
Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in gondwana, to which india
originally belonged. Peninsular India's subsequent movement towards, and collision with,
the laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and
climatic change 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.
Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoo geographical passes on
either side of the emerging Himalaya. As a result, among Indian species, only 12.6% of
mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of
amphibians.
Notable endemics are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine beddome's toad of
the western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.9%, of iucn-designated threatened species.
These include the Asian elephant, the Asiatic lion, bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros, mugger
crocodile, and Indian white-rumped vulture, which suffered a near-extinction from ingesting
the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.
In recent decades, human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response,
the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially
expanded.
Along with over 515 wildlife sanctuaries, India now hosts 18 biosphere reserves, 10 of which
are part of the world network of biosphere reserves; 26 wetlands are registered under
the Ramsar convention.

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