Which of the following is associated with the retreating monsoon in India?
- (a)Loo
- (b)Mahawat
- (c)October heat
- (d)Kaal Baisakhi
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The retreating monsoon season runs through October and November, when the low-pressure trough over north-west India weakens and the south-west monsoon withdraws from north to south.
The sky clears while the land and the air are still saturated from the rains, so the days turn oppressively hot and sticky. Indian geography gives that condition its own name, October heat.
Note what kind of thing the answer is: October heat names a season's weather, while the other three names all belong to winds or storms. That is option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Loo — The Loo is the hot dry wind of the summer season, blowing across the northern and north-western plains in May and June. It belongs before the monsoon arrives, not after it withdraws.
- (b)Mahawat — Mahawat is the light winter rain that western disturbances bring to north-west India between December and February, valuable for the standing rabi wheat crop.
- (d)Kaal Baisakhi — Kaal Baisakhi names the violent pre-monsoon thunderstorms of West Bengal, Assam and the north-east in April and May, notorious for their squalls and damage.
Concept
Indian climate is taught as four seasons, and SSC tests the local name pinned to each one.
The cold weather season, December to February, brings mahawat from western disturbances. The hot weather season, March to May, brings the Loo and the Kaal Baisakhi. The advancing monsoon, June to September, brings the main rains.
The fourth is the retreating monsoon, October and November. The monsoon withdraws, humidity stays high while temperatures rise again, and the Bay of Bengal turns cyclonic over the eastern coast.
The retreating monsoon is also when the north-east monsoon sets in over the south-east of the peninsula, which is why Tamil Nadu takes most of its rain in October and November while the rest of the country is drying out.
Key facts
- The retreating monsoon season covers October and November, when the south-west monsoon withdraws from the subcontinent.
- October heat is the name given to the oppressive humid weather of that withdrawal over the northern plains.
- The Loo is a hot dry wind of May and June over the northern and north-western plains.
- Kaal Baisakhi describes the violent pre-monsoon storms of West Bengal and the north-east in April and May.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking the Loo because both answers are about heat, when the Loo belongs to summer and October heat to the withdrawal.
- Assuming every named phenomenon must be a wind, when October heat is a weather condition of a season.
- Placing mahawat inside the monsoon months instead of the cold weather season.
The Loo carries this topic elsewhere too. At 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.1 the stem asks which part of India it blows over, and at 26 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.18 which state suffers it.
Fix each name to its season first, and the wording of the stem stops mattering.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.