[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 14: Climate of India

[Faraaz Damji]

   The climate of India comprises a wide range of weather conditions
   across a vast geographic scale and varied topography, making
   generalisations difficult.  Based on the Köppen system, 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 (January and February), summer (March to May), a
   monsoon (rainy) season (June–September), and a post-monsoon period
   (October–December).  India's unique geography and geology strongly
   influence its climate; this is particularly true of the Himalayas in
   the north and the Thar Desert in the northwest.  The Himalayas act as a
   barrier to the frigid katabatic winds flowing down from Central Asia.
   Thus, North India is kept warm or only mildly cooled during winter; in
   summer, the same phenomenon makes India relatively hot.  Although the
   Tropic of Cancer—the boundary between the tropics and
   subtropics—passes through the middle of India, the whole country is
   considered to be tropical.  As in much of the tropics, monsoonal and
   other weather conditions in India are unstable: major droughts,
   floods, cyclones and other natural disasters are sporadic, but have
   killed or displaced millions.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_India


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Today's selected anniversaries:

1789:
   French Revolution: Parisians stormed the Bastille, freeing its
   inmates and taking the prison's large quantities of arms and
   ammunition.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/storming_of_the_Bastille)

1798:
   The Sedition Act became United States law, making it a federal crime
   to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the
   U.S. government.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts)

1933:
   Gleichschaltung: All political parties in Germany were outlawed,
   except the National Socialist German Workers Party.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung)

1958:
   King Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was overthrown by a military
   coup d'état led by Abd al-Karim Qasim.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_II_of_Iraq)

1965:
   The NASA spacecraft Mariner 4 flew past Mars, collecting the first
   close-up pictures of another planet.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_4)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   ratify: To give formal consent to; make officially valid.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ratify)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   Nobody living can ever stop meAs I go walking my freedom highwayNobody
   living can make me turn backThis land is made for you and me.
   -- Woody Guthrie
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie)