Editing Maharashtra (section)

===Climate===
[[File:The Godavari river at Puntamba in January.JPG|right|thumb|Dried up Godavari River at [[Puntamba]], Ahmadnagar district, after a poor [[monsoon]] season]]

Maharashtra experiences a [[tropical wet and dry climate]] with hot, rainy, and cold weather seasons. Some areas more inland experience a hot [[semi arid]] climate, due to a rain shadow effect caused by the Western Ghats.<ref name="IGARSS2017">{{cite book |last1=Swain |display-authors=etal |first1=S. |title=2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) |s2cid=26920225 |chapter=Application of SPI, EDI and PNPI using MSWEP precipitation data over Marathwada, India |volume=2017 |pages=5505–5507 |doi=10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8128250 |date=July 2017 |isbn=978-1-5090-4951-6}}</ref> The month of March marks the beginning of the summer and the temperature rises steadily until June. In the central plains, summer temperatures rise to between {{cvt|40|°C|°F|1|disp=or}} and {{cvt|45|°C|°F|1|disp=or}}. May is usually the warmest and January the coldest month of the year. The winter season lasts until February with lower temperatures occurring in December and January. On the Deccan plateau that lies on eastern side of the Sahyadri mountains, the climate is drier, however, dew and hail often occur, depending on seasonal weather.<ref name="Seasonal">{{cite web |title=Climate - ENVIS |url=http://mahenvis.nic.in/Climate.aspx |publisher=Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (Maharashtra) |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-date=15 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715033926/http://mahenvis.nic.in/Climate.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

The rainfall patterns in the state vary by the topography of different regions. The state can be divided into four meteorological regions, namely coastal Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Vidarbha.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guhathakurta |first1=Pulak |last2=Saji |first2=Elizabeth |title=Detecting changes in rainfall pattern and seasonality index vis-à-vis increasing water scarcity in Maharashtra |journal=Journal of Earth System Science |date=1 June 2013 |volume=122 |issue=3 |pages=639–649 |doi=10.1007/s12040-013-0294-y |bibcode=2013JESS..122..639G |s2cid=132556072 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[southwest monsoon]] usually arrives in the last week of June and lasts till mid-September. Pre-monsoon showers begin towards the middle of June and post-monsoon rains occasionally occur in October. The highest average monthly rainfall is during July and August. In the winter season, there may be a little rainfall associated with western winds over the region. The Konkan coastal area, west of the Sahyadri Mountains receives very heavy monsoon rains with an annual average of more than {{Convert|3000|mm}}. However, just {{Convert|150|km|abbr=on}} to the east, in the rain shadow of the mountain range, only 500–700&nbsp;mm/year will fall, and long dry spells leading to drought are a common occurrence. Maharashtra has many of the 99 Indian districts identified by the Indian Central water commission as prone to drought.<ref name="Mall">{{cite journal |last1=Mall |first1=R. K. |last2=Gupta |first2=Akhilesh |last3=Singh |first3=Ranjeet |last4=Singh |first4=R. S. |last5=Rathore |first5=L. S. |title=Water resources and climate change: An Indian perspective |journal=Current Science |date=2006 |volume=90 |issue=12 |pages=1610–1626 |jstor=24091910 }}</ref> The average annual rainfall in the state is {{Convert|1181|mm|abbr=on}} and 75% of it is received during the southwest monsoon from June–to September. However, under the influence of the Bay of Bengal, eastern Vidarbha receives good rainfall in July, August, and September.<ref name=climate>{{cite web |title=Climate of Maharashtra |publisher=Public Library |url=http://164.100.47.134/plibrary/ebooks/Climate_of_Maharashtra/Climate_of_Maharashtra.pdf |access-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219082608/http://164.100.47.134/plibrary/ebooks/Climate_of_Maharashtra/Climate_of_Maharashtra.pdf |archive-date=19 February 2014}}</ref> Thane, [[Raigad district|Raigad]], [[Ratnagiri district|Ratnagiri]], and [[Sindhudurg district|Sindhudurg]] districts receive heavy rains of an average of {{cvt|2000|to|2500|mm|in|-1|disp=or}} and the hill stations of [[Matheran]] and [[Mahabaleshwar]] over {{Convert|5000|mm|abbr=on}}. Contrariwise, the rain shadow districts of [[Nashik district|Nashik]], [[Pune district|Pune]], [[Ahmednagar district|Ahmednagar]], [[Dhule district|Dhule]], [[Jalgaon district|Jalgaon]], [[Satara district|Satara]], [[Sangli district|Sangli]], [[Solapur district|Solapur]], and parts of [[Kolhapur district|Kolhapur]] receive less than {{Convert|1000|mm|abbr=on}} annually. In winter, a cool dry spell occurs, with clear skies, gentle air breeze, and pleasant weather that prevails from October to February, although the eastern Vidarbha region receives rainfall from the north-east monsoon.<ref>Singh, K.S. and Mehta, B.V., 2004. Maharashtra (Vol. 30). Popular Prakashan. page=5 [https://books.google.com/books?id=OmBjoAFMfjoC&q=vidarbha%20%22north-east%20monsoon%22] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404135013/https://books.google.com/books?id=OmBjoAFMfjoC&q=vidarbha%20%22north-east%20monsoon%22|date=4 April 2023}}</ref>