Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List-I (Famous Local Storm) A. Mango shower B. Blossom shower C. Norwesters D. Loo List-II (Place/Area) 1. Punjab to Bihar 2. Kerala 3. Karnataka Coastal Areas 4. West Bengal Codes :
- (a)A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
- (b)A-4, B-1, C-3, D-2
- (c)A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1
- (d)A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4
Correct — C, A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1. The mango shower (A) is the pre-monsoon shower of late summer over the south-western coastal belt that helps mangoes ripen early; with Kerala already claimed by the blossom shower, it pairs with the coastal areas of Karnataka (3). The blossom shower (B) is the pre-monsoon shower with which the coffee flowers open in Kerala and the neighbouring uplands (2) — the standard NCERT description. Norwesters (C) are the violent evening thunderstorms of April and May over West Bengal (4) and its neighbourhood, known locally as Kalbaisakhi, 'the calamity of the month of Baisakh', and as Bardoli Chheerha in Assam; despite the damage they do they are welcome for tea, jute and rice. The Loo (D) is the hot, dry, oppressive wind that blows over the northern plains from Punjab to Bihar (1) in May and June, at its fiercest between Delhi and Patna, and is a familiar cause of heat stroke in Uttar Pradesh. Two independent checks settle the answer without needing the mango-versus-blossom decision at all: only option (c) puts the Loo in the Punjab-to-Bihar plains, and only option (c) puts the Norwesters in West Bengal.
- (a)A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4 — The near-miss, and the option most candidates lose the mark to. It gets the two pre-monsoon showers right but swaps the last two — sending the Norwesters to the Punjab-to-Bihar plains and the Loo to West Bengal. The Loo is a dry continental heat wind of the northern plains, not of humid coastal Bengal, and the Norwester is a Bengal-and-Assam thunderstorm.
- (b)A-4, B-1, C-3, D-2 — Every pair is misplaced. It puts the mango shower in West Bengal, the blossom shower across the Punjab-to-Bihar plains, the Norwesters on the Karnataka coast and the Loo in Kerala — a wind that would be impossible in Kerala's humid maritime climate.
- (d)A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4 — Also wrong throughout. The mango shower is not a wind of the Punjab-to-Bihar plains, the Norwesters are not a Kerala phenomenon, and the Loo does not blow in West Bengal. Only the blossom-shower-to-Karnataka pairing is even arguable, and the key follows the NCERT split that ties the blossom shower to Kerala.
Between March and June India's weather is dominated by local, short-lived systems rather than by the organised monsoon flow. Intense surface heating creates steep lapse rates; where dry continental air meets moist air drawn in from a sea, violent convective storms follow. Over eastern India the collision of hot dry air from the north-west with humid Bay of Bengal air produces the Norwesters. Over the south-west, convection over the warming Arabian Sea coast gives the pre-monsoon showers named after the crops they serve — mango showers and blossom showers. Over the dry north-western plains, where no maritime air is available, the same heating simply produces the Loo, a hot desiccating wind.
Treat this as two easy rows and one hard row. The Loo and the Norwesters are unmistakable — a hot dry plains wind from Punjab to Bihar, and a Bengal thunderstorm — and each of them alone points to option (c), so the item is decidable before you even reach the mango/blossom question. That harder row is genuinely blurry in the textbooks, because both are pre-monsoon showers of the same season over the same south-western belt and different books emphasise different states: NCERT places the blossom shower, which opens the coffee flowers, in Kerala and the areas near it, and describes mango showers as common in Kerala and Karnataka. The key follows exactly that split — Kerala goes to the blossom shower, so the mango shower goes to coastal Karnataka. Learn the split as the examiner uses it and do not try to re-argue it in the hall.
- Mango shower — pre-monsoon shower towards the close of summer over the south-western coastal belt, credited with the early ripening of mangoes; in this UPPSC list it is paired with the Karnataka coastal areas.
- Blossom shower — the pre-monsoon shower with which coffee flowers blossom in Kerala and nearby areas.
- Norwesters — dreaded evening thunderstorms of April-May over West Bengal and Assam, called Kalbaisakhi in Bengal and Bardoli Chheerha in Assam; damaging, but valuable for tea, jute and rice.
- Loo — hot, dry and oppressive wind of the northern plains in May and June, blowing from Punjab to Bihar and strongest between Delhi and Patna; prolonged exposure causes heat stroke.
- Other named pre-monsoon storms: Bordoichila in Assam and the 'Kaal Baisakhi' belt of Bihar and Jharkhand; a Karnataka shower of the mango/blossom-shower family, not a Norwester is called the 'cherry blossom' or coffee shower in the coffee districts.
A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1 = option (c). The two highlighted rows are the decisive ones — only option (c) places the Norwesters in Bengal and the Loo in the Punjab-to-Bihar plains; option (a) swaps exactly these two.
- Swapping the Loo and the Norwesters, which is exactly what the near-miss option (a) does; anchor the Loo to the dry plains and the Norwester to humid Bengal.
- Trying to settle the mango-versus-blossom shower from memory of a different textbook — the two overlap in season and region, so use the elimination route through the Loo and the Norwesters instead.
- Assuming a 'shower' must be harmless and a 'storm' harmful; Norwesters kill and damage property yet are indispensable for tea, jute and rice, while the Loo brings no rain at all.
UPPSC sets Indian and world local winds as match-lists or as 'which pair is NOT correctly matched' items almost every cycle; UPSC prefers the mechanism — which system brings rain to a given region in a given season, and why.
Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists: List I (Local Wind) I. Fohn II. Samun III. Santa Ana IV. Zonda List II (Region) A) Argentina B) Kurdistan C) California D) Alps Codes:
- (a) I-B, II-D, III-A, IV-C
- (b) I-D, II-B, III-C, IV-A
- (c) I-B, II-D, III-C, IV-A
- (d) I-D, II-B, III-A, IV-C
Answer(b) I-D, II-B, III-C, IV-A
The identical skill on the world map — a named local wind matched to the region that produces it, exactly what UPPSC is testing here with India's mango shower, Norwester and Loo.
Which one of the following pairs is NOT correctly matched? (Name of local winds) - (Places)
- (a) Leveche - Spain
- (b) Brickfielder - Australia
- (c) Black roller - North America
- (d) Shamal - Austria
Answer(d) Shamal - Austria
UPPSC asking the same local-wind-to-place mapping three years earlier, only in the negative 'NOT correctly matched' format and on world winds instead of Indian ones.
Which one of the following causes is responsible for rainfall during winters in north-western part of India ?
- (a) Retreating Monsoon
- (b) Cyclonic depression
- (c) Western disturbances
- (d) South-West Monsoon
Answer(c) Western disturbances
The other half of India's non-monsoon rainfall calendar — winter rain over the north-west from western disturbances, against the summer pre-monsoon storms tested here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The violent pre-monsoon evening thunderstorms called 'Kalbaisakhi' in West Bengal are known in Assam as :
- (a)Bardoli Chheerha
- (b)Loo
- (c)Mango shower
- (d)Aandhi
Answer(a) Bardoli Chheerha — the Assamese name for the same April-May Norwesters that Bengal calls Kalbaisakhi.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Norwesters of eastern India, though destructive, are considered beneficial mainly because they help which of the following crops?
- (a)Wheat, mustard and gram
- (b)Tea, jute and rice
- (c)Cotton, groundnut and millets
- (d)Coffee, cardamom and rubber
Answer(b) Tea, jute and rice — the pre-monsoon rain and drop in temperature come exactly when the tea, jute and early rice of Bengal and Assam need moisture.