Drought -- National Drought Mitigation Center

 

Title

Characteristics of Drought in Kerala, India

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

May 2000

Comments

Published in Drought Network News Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1999–Spring 2000. Published by the International Drought Information Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Kerala state in India, which is the first area of the country to experience the southwest monsoon, has a moist and wet climate. Kerala is in the extreme southwestern part of the Indian subcontinent; it borders Karnataka state in the north, Tamil Nadu in the east, and the Arabian Sea in the west (Figure 1). The entire state is one of the 35 meteorological subdivisions in India.

Kerala’s climate is tropical monsoon and tropical savanna, according to Koppen’s climatic classification (Figure 1). The state normally experiences excessive seasonal rainfall, with hot summers (except in the extreme southern districts like Trivandrum, where dry season and hot summer climate prevails). The three main seasons of the state are the hot season (March–May), southwest monsoon season (May– September), and northeast monsoon season (October– February).