Maharashtra is split into three climatically distinct belts by the Western Ghats: a narrow, very wet Konkan coastal strip facing the Arabian Sea, the Ghats themselves and the leeward Deccan plateau (Western Maharashtra and Marathwada) in their rain shadow, and the Bay-of-Bengal-influenced Vidarbha plains in the east. A single state average rainfall figure hides an enormous internal range, from over 4,000 mm a year on the windward Ghats to under 700 mm in the Marathwada rain shadow. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Maharashtra, open VayuMet.
The Western Ghats (Sahyadri) run north-south roughly 50-80 km inland from the coast, rising to 1,000-1,600 m. West of the crest is the Konkan — a narrow, low coastal plain fully exposed to the Arabian Sea branch of the monsoon. East of the crest is the Deccan plateau, which drops in rainfall sharply within a few tens of kilometres (the classic Ghats rain-shadow effect) before flattening into Western Maharashtra and Marathwada. Further east, Vidarbha is a separate plain drained by the Wardha-Wainganga system, out of reach of the Arabian Sea branch and dependent instead on the Bay of Bengal branch and the monsoon trough's day-to-day position.
Winter (December-February) is mild and dry statewide. Pre-monsoon summer (March-May) brings rising heat everywhere, most severe in Vidarbha. The southwest monsoon (June-September) is the dominant season: it reaches the Konkan coast first (around 10-12 June) and Vidarbha last (around 15-18 June), and produces the state's most extreme rainfall totals on the Ghats' windward slopes. Post-monsoon (October-November) is a short, generally dry retreat period, though Arabian Sea cyclones occasionally brush the Konkan coast in this window.
The Arabian Sea monsoon current is forced up and over the Western Ghats, producing some of India's heaviest sustained rainfall on the windward (Konkan-facing) slopes — commonly 3,000-4,000+ mm over the four-month season — while the immediate leeward side receives a fraction of that within a short distance.
Bay of Bengal-origin monsoon depressions and lows track west-northwest across central India through the season; when one passes near or over Maharashtra it produces multi-day heavy-rain spells over Marathwada and Vidarbha in particular, since these interior regions otherwise depend mainly on such systems for their monsoon rainfall.
Most Arabian Sea cyclones recurve away from the Indian coast or make landfall further north (Gujarat) or south, but the Konkan coast and Mumbai can still experience heavy rain, rough seas and storm surge from a system passing offshore, and a direct landfall (e.g. Cyclone Nisarga, 2020, near Alibaug) does occur.
Vidarbha (Chandrapur, Akola, Nagpur, Brahmapuri) is one of central India's most heatwave-prone regions, regularly crossing IMD heatwave thresholds in May; the weaker or delayed monsoon in El Nino years can prolong this heat stress into June.
Frequencies cited from published IMD/IITM climatology where a source is named inline; day-count figures in the table below are computed directly from the 1951–2025 IMD daily archive.
The table below is a state-wide average across Maharashtra's 36 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). Because this average blends the very wet Konkan/Ghats districts with the much drier Deccan interior, it reads noticeably wetter than what most inland Maharashtra actually experiences — use the district climatology tool linked below for any single district's own figures.
| Season | Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | Mean Max / Min (°C) | Typical Hottest / Coldest (°C) | Sky (Sunny·Partly·Overcast days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Jan–Feb | 10.2 | 2.1 | 31.0 / 15.1 | 34.1 / 13.2 | 12.8·45.5·0.7 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 42.0 | 9.6 | 37.8 / 23.1 | 39.9 / 17.7 | 11.5·75.6·4.9 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 1105.5 | 89.0 | 31.3 / 23.5 | 38.5 / 22.2 | 0.0·56.3·65.7 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 96.2 | 13.1 | 31.3 / 17.4 | 33.1 / 12.9 | 19.6·70.5·1.8 |
State figures are a simple average across 36 member districts (IMD Pune 1991–2020 normal; day-count and sky figures from real 1951–2025 daily archives — see District Climatology tool for any single district's own numbers, which can differ substantially from this state average).
Computed directly from the real IMD 1951–2025 daily gridded archive — not a forecast, and not the same as a single-station record. IMD's gridded temperature is 1°×1° (~111 km/cell) and rainfall is 0.25°×0.25° (~25 km/cell); both are spatial analyses of many station observations; a famous single-station record (e.g. a specific town's all-time hottest day) will typically read higher than the grid-cell value shown here, since one station reading isn't smoothed over a ~25–111 km box. "Place" is the nearest district to the grid cell where the extreme occurred, not necessarily the exact spot.
Monsoon (Jun-Sep). Mumbai's intense, concentrated monsoon downpours regularly cause severe urban flooding; Konkan rivers (Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Kolhapur, Sangli) and the Krishna-Panchganga system in Western Maharashtra are also flood-prone in an active monsoon.
Pre-monsoon (Mar-May). Vidarbha districts (Chandrapur, Akola, Nagpur) see the state's most severe and frequent heatwave conditions.
Pre- and post-monsoon. The Konkan coast faces occasional direct landfall risk and more frequent indirect impacts (heavy rain, rough seas) from Arabian Sea cyclones.
Monsoon (Jun-Sep). Steep, heavily saturated Western Ghats slopes in Raigad, Ratnagiri and the Satara/Kolhapur Ghats are prone to landslides during sustained heavy rain (e.g. the 2021 Taliye landslide, Raigad).
Monsoon shortfall years. Marathwada and parts of Vidarbha, already in the Ghats' rain shadow, are particularly vulnerable to agricultural drought in a below-normal or delayed monsoon year.
Click a district on the District Climatology tool or search it on the 10-day forecast page for its own normals — the grid below is the full current list (India's Local Government Directory codes, cross-checked against the latest state reorganisation).