172 



GENERAL SCIENCE 



panied by snow. The norther of Texas and the buran of 

 Siberia are simply local names for cold winds. 



Monsoons. If land is located with reference to the 

 belt over which the equatorial calms move so that the 

 heat equator is over the land for a part of the year and 

 over the adjacent water the remainder of the year, mon- 

 soons are developed. That is, the trade winds will 

 blow from the sea toward the land for a part of the year 



FIG. 146. Southern Asia, Showing the Monsoon Region and the Region 

 of Heavy Rainfall. 



The arrows indicata the direction of the wind during July and August (the left- 

 hand illustration) and January and February (the right-hand illustration) . 



and from the land toward the sea the remainder of the year. 

 The best-known monsoon winds are in the region of India, 

 where the sea breeze in summer is so strong that it reaches 

 the southern slopes of the Himalayas (Figure 146). As the 

 wind passes over the warm seas it becomes laden with mois- 

 ture, which is precipitated as the air is cooled on the moun- 

 tain sides. The rainfall here is enormous, in some places 

 amounting to as much as 500 inches a year. As the heat 

 equator moves south, the direction of these winds is 

 reversed. Since they are warmed as they descend they 



