Telangana is a landlocked Deccan plateau state, carved from Andhra Pradesh in 2014, whose semi-arid climate and historic reliance on tank irrigation reflect centuries of adapting to a monsoon that is useful but not always dependable. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Telangana, open VayuMet.
The state sits on the Deccan plateau, drained by the Godavari in the north and the Krishna in the south, with generally undulating terrain and no significant hill range comparable to the Western or Eastern Ghats within its borders. Its landlocked, plateau setting means Telangana's weather is governed almost entirely by the monsoon trough and depressions rather than any coastal influence.
Winter (December-February) is mild and dry. Summer (March-June) is hot, with north Telangana (Adilabad, Nizamabad) experiencing some of the more intense pre-monsoon 'Deccan heat' in the south. The southwest monsoon (June-September) is the primary rain source, moderately reliable but with real year-to-year variability. The northeast monsoon (October-November) adds a smaller secondary contribution, mainly in the south of the state.
Telangana benefits most when the monsoon trough dips south over the Deccan or a Bay of Bengal depression tracks across the state — its primary source of reliable monsoon rainfall.
North Telangana in particular sees intense pre-monsoon heat, occasionally crossing IMD heatwave thresholds for extended periods.
As the northeast monsoon sets up over the southern peninsula, south Telangana receives a modest secondary rainfall contribution.
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 Telangana's 33 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). For any single district's own figures, use the district climatology tool linked below.
| Season | Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | Mean Max / Min (°C) | Typical Hottest / Coldest (°C) | Sky (Sunny·Partly·Overcast days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Jan–Feb | 16.5 | 2.5 | 30.9 / 17.4 | 34.0 / 15.1 | 7.4·49.9·1.7 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 62.6 | 14.2 | 38.0 / 24.8 | 40.8 / 19.7 | 1.7·76.5·13.8 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 669.5 | 81.8 | 32.3 / 24.2 | 39.2 / 23.0 | 0.0·54.4·67.6 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 114.9 | 16.0 | 30.2 / 18.7 | 32.4 / 14.4 | 14.9·74.3·2.8 |
State figures are a simple average across 33 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.
Structural, monsoon-shortfall years. Telangana's historic tank-irrigation system was built specifically to buffer against monsoon variability, reflecting a long-standing structural drought risk across the plateau.
Monsoon (Jun-Sep). Godavari and Krishna basin flooding, and severe urban flooding in Hyderabad (as in October 2020), are the state's main flood risks.
Pre-monsoon (Apr-Jun). North Telangana sees the state's most intense and sustained pre-monsoon heat.
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).