Monsoon
The word “monsoon” is from the Arabic word "mausim", meaning season of winds, which is often applied to the seasonal reversals of the wind direction along the shores of the Indian Ocean and surrounding regions, especially in the Arabian Sea.
Monsoon is a seasonal wind, which changes direction twice in a year, producing weather changes mainly in India and Southeast Asia. It blows from southwest to northeast from April to October and from the northeast to the southeast and southwest from October to April. This phenomenon is similar to land and sea breezes, but on a larger scale and affecting a vast area.
The southwest monsoon first hits the Western Ghats of Kerala, making it the first state in India to get rains. The northeast or retreating monsoon pours over the East coast of India. India is heavily dependent on the monsoon for its agricultural production.
No other country receives as much rain as India does during the monsoons. Unfortunately we have not yet learnt how to collect this vast quantity of water efficiently and much of it runs back into the seas. As a result if the monsoon fails in any year, many parts of the country have no reserves of water to fall back on and drought descends on the land.
The scientific measurement of rainfall in India began in 1875, when the Indian Meteorological Department was set up. The rainfall measured is that which falls on the plains. Rainfall over hilly and mountainous regions and over the oceans is still not adequately measured.
The first observatory in the country to record rainfall was Madras Observatory in 1793. The next to do so were the observatories at Colaba Mumbai in 1826 and Shimla in 1841.
