Awadh · Upper Indus–Gangetic Plain
Terrain and eco-zones
Humid subtropical with a monsoon that arrives in the last week of June and delivers most of the year's 900–1,100 mm. The temperature range is wide for a plain — 3–5 °C on a January night in Lucknow, 44–46 °C on a May afternoon — and the pre-monsoon loo blows hot and dry from the west through May and early June.
Landforms
Gangetic alluvial plain, almost featureless, falling south-east at roughly 20 cm per kilometreKhadar — the active floodplain along the Ghaghara, renewed and re-cut every monsoonBangar uplands carrying the mango orchards and the older village sitesUsar — sodic, salt-crusted patches through Unnao, Rae Bareli and Hardoi that resist cultivationTerai forest edge in the north, at Katarniaghat and Suhelwa
Rivers and waters
Gomti — rises at Fulhaar Jheel, runs the length of the region and gives Lucknow its riverfrontGhaghara (Sarayu) — Himalayan-fed, the region's great flooding river, and the Ayodhya riverfrontSai — the southern Awadh river, slow and monsoon-dependentSharda and Chauka in the north-westKalyani, Reth and Gharra as tributary drainage
Through the year
| Season | Months | Typical | What it is like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | November–February | 5–25 °C | The season the region cooks for. Nimish is made only on dew nights, the mango trees flower in February, and every wedding and mela falls in this window. |
| Summer | March–June | 25–46 °C | The loo blows from mid-April. Villages shift to sattu, kachche aam ka panna and bel sharbat; Dussehri mangoes ripen from the third week of June. |
| Monsoon | July–September | 26–36 °C | The Ghaghara floods and cuts new channels most years. Jhoola swings go up, kajri and savan songs are sung, and Teej is observed. |
| Post-monsoon | October | 20–33 °C | Clear, mild, and the start of the Ramlila and Dussehra season, particularly at Ayodhya. |
Best time to visitOctober to March for the city, its monuments and its food. Late June if the point is Dussehri mangoes at Malihabad. Muharram follows the lunar calendar and moves through the year — check the date, because Lucknow changes character entirely for it.
The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Awadh, and the best time of year to visit. (4)