NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 3 Climates of India
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Weather is what we feel from hour to hour or day to day; seasons recur every year; climate is the pattern of weather a region has over a long period — at least several decades . Traditionally India divides the year into six ṛitus — vasanta, grīṣhma, varṣhā, śharad, hemanta and śhiśhir. India has seven kinds of climate in one country: alpine (Himalayas), temperate (lower Himalayas and hill areas), subtropical (northern plains), arid (Thar Desert), tropical wet (western coastal strip), semi-arid (Deccan Plateau) and tropical (eastern India and the southern peninsula). Five factors decide a region's climate — latitude (the angle of the sun's rays), altitude (air thins and cools as you go up), proximity to the sea (the sea moderates temperature), winds (they carry heat and moisture) and topogr
- Chapter opening
- Weather, Seasons and the Climate
- Seasons in your own region
- Factors Determining the Climate
- a) Latitude
- b) Altitude
- d) Winds
- The Monsoons
- Traditional knowledge and predicting the monsoon
- Climate and our Lives
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | What we experience every hour or day; it keeps changing | Page 46 | Rain, bright sunshine, a lot of wind |
| Climate | The pattern of weather a region has over a long period — several decades at least | Page 46 | The arid climate of the Thar Desert |
| Ṛitu | A season in the traditional Indian six-season year | Page 46 | Vasanta, grīṣhma, varṣhā, śharad, hemanta, śhiśhir |
| Latitude | Distance from the Equator, which fixes the angle of the sun's rays | Pages 49–50 | Kanniyakumari is hot, Srinagar is cool |
| Altitude | Height above sea level; temperature falls as it rises | Page 50 | Hill stations — Ooty, Shimla, Darjeeling, Munnar |
| Topography | The totality of the physical surface features of an area | Margin note, page 52 | The Himalayas shielding India from Central Asian winds |
| Microclimate | A climate localised in a small area, different from the region around it | Page 53 | An ‘urban heat island’; an enclosed valley |
| Monsoon | Seasonal winds (and the rains they bring) over the Indian Ocean region; from Arabic mausim, ‘season’ | Page 54 | The southwest monsoon reaching Kerala in early June |
| Eye of the cyclone | The cloudless centre of the depression around which the winds rotate | Page 59 | Fig. 3.14, the eye of the storm |
| Glacial burst | Water breaking through the rock-and-ice barrier of a glacial lake | Pages 60–61 | Uttarakhand, 2013 — the Kedarnath disaster |
| Fossil fuels | Energy sources formed from plants and animals buried millions of years ago | Margin note, page 63 | Coal, petroleum oil, natural gas |
| Mitigation | Steps taken to slow global warming and reduce the causes of climate change | Margin note, page 64 | Cutting emissions, planting trees, renewable energy |
| Resilience | The capacity to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties | Margin note, page 64 | Communities rebuilding after a cyclone |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 45
- Weather, Seasons and the Climate — In-text Questions Page 46
- Seasons in your own region — LET'S EXPLORE Page 47
- Factors Determining the Climate — In-text Questions Page 49
- a) Latitude — LET'S REMEMBER Page 49
- b) Altitude — In-text Questions Page 50
- b) Altitude — LET'S EXPLORE Page 51
- d) Winds — LET'S REMEMBER Page 52
- The Monsoons — DON'T MISS OUT Page 55
- Traditional knowledge and predicting the monsoon — LET'S EXPLORE Page 56
- Climate and our Lives — LET'S EXPLORE Page 56
- Climates and Disasters — DON'T MISS OUT Page 58
- a) Cyclones — In-text Questions Page 59
- a) Cyclones — THINK ABOUT IT Page 59
- b) Floods — LET'S EXPLORE Page 60
- b) Floods — DON'T MISS OUT Page 61
- d) Forest fires — LET'S EXPLORE Page 62
- Climate Change — In-text Questions Page 64
- The chapter in seven points — Before we move on … Page 64–65
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 65–66