BharatSangraha

Kosta Andhra · Eastern Coastal Plains

Terrain and eco-zones

Tropical, humid and hot, with 900–1,100 mm falling mostly between June and September and a significant share arriving from the retreating monsoon in October and November. The temperature range is narrow and the humidity is not — 20–31 °C in January, 28–42 °C in May, with the delta's canal water raising the apparent temperature further. October and November are the dangerous months: this is a cyclone landfall coast with a long and specific casualty record, and the modern network of concrete cyclone shelters along it exists because of that record.

Landforms

The Godavari fan below Dowleswaram, splitting into distributaries and lanka islandsThe Krishna fan below Vijayawada, older, flatter and more completely canalisedKolleru, a shallow freshwater lake in the sag between the two deltas, draining to the sea by one channelCoringa mangrove and the Hope Island sandspit sheltering Kakinada BayBarrier bars and brackish lagoons from Nizampatnam south to PulicatIndrakeeladri and the Kondapalli hills, isolated rock rising out of the Krishna delta at VijayawadaThe Papikondalu gorge, where the Godavari cuts through the Eastern Ghats before reaching the plain

Rivers and waters

Godavari — India's second-longest river, splitting below Dowleswaram; tradition names seven mouths, of which Gautami, Vasishta and Vainateya still carry water and the rest survive as names and dry channelsKrishna — reaching the sea past Machilipatnam, held at Vijayawada by the Prakasam BarragePenna — the Nellore river, seasonal and shallow, with its own small deltaBudameru and Tammileru — the streams that feed Kolleru and flood Vijayawada's outskirtsUpputeru — Kolleru's single outlet to the sea, and the reason the lake is fresh rather than brackish

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterDecember–February20–31 °CThe pleasant months and the festival ones. Sankranti falls in mid-January and the delta fills with people who work elsewhere; Pulicat and Kolleru hold their migratory bird populations.
SummerMarch–June28–42 °CHot and wet-feeling. Avakaya is put down in May and June, when the pickling mango is right and the air is dry enough to keep the jar safe.
MonsoonJuly–September27–34 °CThe Godavari's first flood brings the pulasa upriver, which is the one week of the year when a fish commands prices that make the newspapers. Canal irrigation means the crop does not depend on the rain arriving on time, only on it arriving.
Post-monsoonOctober–November24–32 °CCyclone season, and the delta's most exposed period. Second-crop paddy is standing, the aquaculture ponds are full, and a surge reaches a long way inland across ground this flat.

Best time to visitDecember to February for the delta, the temples and the coast. Mid-January if the point is Sankranti, which is when Konaseema's Prabhala Teertham is held and when the region is at its fullest. Pushkaram years — the Godavari's next falls in 2027 — are extraordinary and impossible to move around in.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Kosta Andhra, and the best time of year to visit. (4)