The South West Monsoon

The Monsoon — a basic guide

Malhar is the ancient Indo-Persian word for Monsoon. Legend has it that the Emperor Akbar caused the Regh Malhar to be sung in order to entice rains to begin. An entire genre of music, ‘Raga Malhar’ celebrates the arrival of the rains, for it is an event with deep meaning in the life of the sub-continent. Even today, it is the single biggest indicator of economic performance for the region, as most of South Asia’s farmers are reliant on the monsoon for water. The failure of the monsoon can be a catastrophe that has, in the past, led to terrible famines in the region. The budget of British India was described as a “gamble in rain” by the administrators of the Raj, as an estimated 70% of India’s rainfall comes from the monsoon.

The meteorology

From a scientist’s point of view the Southwest Monsoon is one of the most interesting meteorological events in the world. Tropical meteorology is a very different beast to the frontal system driven weather patterns of the world’s temperate regions. The weather forecast, which has traditionally followed the nightly news on TV channels all over world, popularized the frigid blue-pointed cold fronts and red-bubbled warm fronts. But down in the tropics, especially in South Asia, weather systems are very dissimilar. The meteorological basis of the monsoon is quite complex and in some ways unique to our region.