Regional weather

Monsoons

About 60% of the world's population lives in areas affected by monsoons, and the biggest monsoon of all is in Asia. People living in these regions probably have a love-hate relationship with the monsoons. When the rainfall doesn't come, crops dry up. When there's too much rain, rivers flood and mountainsides crumble in devastating landslides.

The monsoon is an enormous land-sea breeze. During the summer, the land heats up more than the ocean. The air above the land is heated from below, and the warm air expands and rises. Air from the ocean rushes inland to fill the void left by the rising air. This sets up the circulation pattern seen in the video link above.

The rains over India and the rest of southern Asia can be especially intense because of the Himilayas. The winds from the ocean are forced to rise up, up, up this huge mountain range. Both the surface heating and the mountains lead to cloud formation and rainfall.

Did you know there is a monsoon in the United States? It's called the North American Monsoon and effects parts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. Here is a link to the Indian/East Asian monsoon.

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