To understand what monsoon rain is, we need to have a look at the historical background for the phenomena.
Summer rain brings welcome relief from the hot, dry days in May and June. They also produce a second round of wildflowers, including summer poppies, devil’s claws, morning glory, and blooming woody plants such as agaves. We call it monsoon, but that is a slight misnomer; the term actually refers to a seasonal shift in the winds that brings wet and dry periods.
The beginning of the summer monsoon is characterized in early May by a period of pre-monsoon rains in southern China and Taiwan. The summer rains continue throughout the month with dramatic lightning and thunderstorms. In August, the monsoon moves into a series of dry and rainy phases while the rain belt moves north, starting in June in Indochina, the South China Sea, and the Yangtze Basin in Japan and in July in North China and Korea.
Summer Monsoon Rain
The summer monsoon takes place from September to February and is an important source of energy for the Hadley cycle during the boreal winter. Most of the summer monsoon rains in the West tend to rise strongly and produce abundant rainfall as condensation and water vapor rises into the air. The winter monsoon, on the other hand, has a dominant eastern component, which is more prone to drift apart and subside, causing droughts.
South East-Asia Monsoon
The rain forecast for Nam benefits the Four Corners region. The world’s strongest monsoon region extends from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, including all of Asia and the northern end of Australia. A large part of this region, along with the whole western third of the country and the northern region, is currently experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in recent times.
From June to September, South Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, India, and Pakistan experience summer monsoon rains. There is also the East Asian monsoon, which brings summer rain to Korea, Japan, and China, but it is caused by another wind pattern associated with the jet stream. From December to February, monsoon rains shift away from the equator, and Australia and South Asia experience drier monsoon conditions.
Monsoon Rain in The US
Heavy monsoon rains hit Pakistan in late July and early August 2008. In 2008, officials of the National Weather Service decided to consider June 15 through September 30 in Arizona as the Southwest monsoon season in the U.S. because thunderstorms bring rain at different times and locations in the region. The monsoon rains are the most dramatic in southeastern Arizona and Western New Mexico. They are intensifying around Phoenix and Yuma.
Monsoon is changing
There is evidence that the monsoon is changing, and researchers are studying how the amount of monsoon rainfall will affect climate change in the future. The general physical conditions that cause the movement of the Earth and the distribution of land and water on its surface are, to a certain extent, effective, but meteorological phenomena are considered periodic in their main characteristics. The summer monsoon does not always bring the same amount of rainfall and fluctuations in rainfall can have an impact on agriculture and the economy.