Climate and Location in Rajasthan

Location

Rajasthan is located on the western border of India. It shares its western boundary with Pakistan. The Indian states bordering Rajasthan are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. The state has a total area of 132,134 square miles. The capital Jaipur can be reached by road from New Delhi in two hours.

Climate

Western Rajasthan receives little or no rainfall throughout the year, making it a dry, barren desert known as the Thar. Southern Rajasthan is luckier in this aspect – it receives around 10 inches of rain every year. Summers can be harsh, with temperatures hovering around 80-115 degree Fahrenheit. Most tourists prefer to visit Rajasthan during the winter months of October to February, when the temperatures are in the more pleasant ranges of 45-80 degree Fahrenheit.

The difference between night time and day time temperatures is extreme in the desert. Churu once broke all records for minimum temperature in the state by registering a high of zero degree Celsius in the late 1990s.

The monsoon season, like in the rest of India, lasts from July to September. This is the time when Rajasthan receives more rainfall than it will receive at any other time of the year. However, the amount of rainfall varies in eastern and western Rajasthan.

Geography

As we saw in the section above, Rajasthan has the Thar Desert to the west. The east has relatively fertile plains where most of the agricultural lands lie. Neatly dividing the eastern and western parts of the state are the Aravalli Hills, older than the Himalayas, though not quite as majestically tall. The highest point on the Aravallis is the Mount Abu, a popular tourist spot owing to the ancient temples on the peak.

The southern part of the state offers a sharp contrast to the arid deserts of the west. The land is not only fertile, but home to what is known as the Venice of the East – Udaipur. Udaipur is famous for its lakes and little lake islands, an idyllic getaway from the daily grind. Hard to imagine that only a few kilometers away to the north are the blistering hot sands and sweltering heat of the desert.

The major river in Rajasthan is the Chambal. Once the hideout of dreaded dacoits, today Chambal offers a peaceful break to the visitor, its waters flowing serenely through the ravines it carved out of the rocks over the course of a few million years.