The Climate Of Darjeeling

Darjeeling can be counted among the places known as the lands of perpetual spring with a lovely climate throughout the year and abundant precipitation which gets a little pronounced during the monsoon season. It is a famous hill station of West Bengal state of India.

The Temperature Regime

Darjeeling has no extremes of temperatures and its lovely and welcoming cool air was favorite of the British during the colonial era. The mid-day thermometer during the warmest month usually does not exceed 70 F while the night time low is a pleasant 60 F. As for the coldest month, it is much more moderate than other hill stations of India. The maximum temperature at the height of winter is 48 F but the interesting thing is that the nighttime low rarely drops below 32 F which is quite unusual since places far lower in height like Srinagar in the North West of India records temperatures below 25 F persistently during winter season. Spring and Fall are especially delightful with an average temperature of 60 F.

The Precipitation Regime

Darjeeling basically follows the same precipitation pattern as those of the plain areas of West Bengal but there is an exception. No month at this station records less than an half an inch of rainfall whereas the plain stations have at least five months that receive practically no rain Darjeeling has two seasons as far as rainfall is concerned – a relatively dry season which lasts from November to March and wet season that lasts from April to October. During the dry season average rainfall / month is one and a half inch while average of the wet months is 12 inches/ month. The total annual rainfall here is a little more than 100 inches.

The monsoon rain is heavy and sometimes as much as 10 inches is received within 24 hours but it must be remembered that the monsoon rain is not as heavy as that of Cherrapunji which renders any tourist activity impossible. The abundant rain is responsible for the world famous tea plantation of Darjeeling. The breathtaking scene of tea planted along the slopes of emerald hills is rare to be cherished anywhere else in India.

In short Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal is a place worth visiting with a cool and pleasant weather throughout the year and an abundant precipitation to support its lush greenery and world famous tea plantation.