Tripura - Geography and Climate

Geography and Climate

Tripura is a landlocked state in Northeast India, where the seven contiguous states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura—are collectively known as the Seven Sister States. Spread over 10,491.69 km2 (4,050.86 sq mi), Tripura is the third smallest state of the country. The state extends from 22°56'N to 24°32'N, and 91°09'E to 92°20'E. Its maximum stretch measures about 184 km (114 mi) from north to south and 113 km (70 mi) from east to west. Tripura is bounded by the country of Bangladesh in the west, south and north; the Indian state of Assam lies to the north-east, and Mizoram forms the eastern boundary. The state is accessible from the rest of India through the Karimganj district of Assam and Mamit district of Mizoram in the east.

The physiography is characterised by hill ranges, valleys and plains. The state has five anticlinal hill ranges running from north to south. From west to east, these ranges are—Boromura, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui. The intervening synclinal valleys are Agartala–Udaipur, Khowai–Teliamura, Kamalpur–Ambasa, Kailasahar–Manu and Dharmanagar–Kanchanpur valleys. At an altitude of 939 m (3,081 ft), Betling Shib in the Jampui range is the highest point of the state. The small isolated hillocks interspersed in the state are known as tilla, and the narrow fertile alluvial valleys mostly present in the western part of the state are called lunga. In geologic time scale, the rocks found in the state date from the Oligocene epoch (approximately 34 to 23 million years ago) to the Holocene epoch (started 12,000 Before Present), according to lithostratigraphy data published by the Geological Survey of India. The hills have red laterite soil that is porous. The flood plains and narrow valleys have alluvial soil. Flood plains in the western and southern parts of the state constitute most of its agricultural land. A number of rivers flow through the hilly regions carving valleys, and pass through the plains to enter Bangladesh. The rivers Khowai, Dhalai, Manu, Juri and Longai flow towards north; Gumti is westward; Muhuri and Feni flow southwestward.

The state has a tropical savanna climate designated Aw under the Köppen climate classification, although the undulating topography leads to local variations particularly in the hill ranges. The four main seasons are as follows—Winter (December–February), Pre-monsoon or Summer (March–April), Monsoon (May–September) and Post-Monsoon (October–November). The southwest monsoon brings heavy rains during the monsoon season. According to data from 1995–2006, the average annual rainfall of the state ranged from 1,979.6 mm (77.94 in) to 2,745.9 mm (108.11 in). Generally, the maximum and minimum temperatures during Winter (December–January) are around 27 °C (81 °F) and 13 °C (55 °F), and during Summer (March–April) are 36 °C (97 °F) and 24 °C (75 °F), respectively. Heavy rainfall during the monsoon causes frequent floods in the state.