Monsoon breaks

Monsoon breaks

Subject: Geography

Context: Revival of the monsoon on Thursday will bring down rain intensity and distribution over the North-Eastern States in a known swing of fortunes as the monsoon emerges out of a “break” phase

Concept:

• The monsoon has tendency to have ‘breaks’ in rainfall,during which very less or no rainfall occurs. The monsoon rains take place only for a few days at a time.
• They are interspersed with rainless intervals. These breaks in monsoon are related to the movement of the monsoon trough.
• This happens when the Monsoon trough shifts to the foothills of Himalayas, which leads to sharp decrease in rainfall over most parts of the country but increase along the Himalayas and parts of Northeast India and Southern Peninsula.
• During July and August, there are certain periods when the monsoons become weak. Breaks are likely to occur during the second week of August and last for a week.
• The breaks are believed to be brought about by the northward shifting of the monsoon trough (minimum low pressure cell in ITCZ).The axis of the trough lies at the foothills of the Himalayas during the break period.
• During the break period, heavy rainfall occurs over the sub-Himalayan regions and the southern slopes of the Himalayas.
• one or two breaks do occur during the rainy season.