KUMAON IS THE PART OF UTTARAKHAND STATE(THE NORTHERN MOST STATE OF INDIA,WHICH WAS RECENTLY SEPERATED FROM UTTAR PRADESH.).IT COMPRISES OF SIX DISTRICTS, NAMELY NAINITAL, ALMORA, PITHORAGARH,BAGESHWAR AND UDHAM SINGH NAGAR,EXTENDING AN AREA OF OVER 13,017.6sq km.BOUNDED BY NEPAL IN THE EAST,TIBET IN THE NORTH AND CHAMOLI,PAURI IN GARHWAL REGION AND BIJNORE IN THE WEST,TO THE SOUTH LIE THE DISTRICTS OF PILIBHIT,BAREILLY,MORADABAD AND RAMPUR IN UTTAR PRADESH.KUMAON IS STRECHED BETWEEN THE SHIVALIK RANGES ,THE MID HIMALAYAS AND UPTO GREATER HIMALAYAS.AND IN ADDITION ARE THE TERAI AND BHABHAR REGIONS OF NAINITAL.KALI RIVER FORMED BY THE MERGER OF DHAULIGANGA,GORIGANGA,SARYU AND LAHRIYA RIVERS,FLOW ON THE WESTERN PART AND RAMGANGA IN THE SOUTH.
GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES OF THIS PLACE ADDS TO IT’S MAKEUP, RANGING FROM PLACES WHICH ARE AT ABOUT 100MTS ABOVE THE SEA LEVEL TO PLACES REACHING A HEIGHT OF ABOUT 4OOOMTS AND MORE.
THEREFORE WE CAN EXPECT THE CLIMATIC AND THE GEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES.A VARIETY OF CLIMATES FROM TROPICAL TO THE POLAR TYPES PREVAILS IN THE REGION,MAINLY DUE TO ALTITUDE AND PHYSIOGRAPHIC COMPLEXITY.
ON THE BASIS OF ALTITUDE AND ACCOMPANYING FEATURED,THE REGION CAN BE DIVIDED INTO EIGHT TYPES OF BROAD CLIMATIC ZONES.
1-WARM TROPICAL REGION;BELOW 600mts.
2-COLD TROPICAL-SUBTROPICALREGION; 600-1200mts.
3-WARM TEMPERATE REGION; 1200-1800mts.
4-COOL TEMPERATE REGION;1880-2400mts.
5-THE COLD REGION;2400-3000mts.
6-THE ALPINE REGION;3000-4000mts.
7-THE GLACIAL REGION;4000-4800mts.
8-THE PERPETUALLY FROZEN REGION;ABOVE 4800mts.
TEMPERATURE-
THE MEAN MONTHLY TEMPERATURE VARIES WITH THE ALTITUDE.
THE MAXMIMUM TEMPERATURE IN ZONE 4 WAS NOT EXCEEDING 23 DEGREE CELSIUS,PREVIOUSLY,BUT NOW DUE TO CLIMATIC CHANGES IT GOES UPTO 32 DEGREES.MINIMUM TEMPERATURE IN THIS REGION IS AROUND 2-3DEGREES.TEMPERATURE DECREASES WITH INCREASING ALTITUDE BY A NORMAL LAPSE RATE OF 3.3DEGREES CENTIGRADE FOR EACH 1000mt OF ALTITUDE.TEMPERATURE ZONES RANGE FROM VERY HOT IN TERAI-BHABHAR TO EXTREMELY COLD ZONE OF THE HIGHER HIMALAYAS.