India - weather in January

January is the central month of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In India, a large country crossed by the Tropic of Cancer in the center-north, it is generally a dry and sunny month, very mild in the far north (but with cold nights), and hot in the south.
January is the coolest month of the year in much of India, although in some cities in the center-south (see Bangalore, Hyderabad) the coolest month is December.
In the north, in the mountains at the foot of the Himalayas (see Srinagar) it is cold, and at the highest altitudes there is perpetual snow.

In the north, in the Indo-Gangetic plain, the average temperature is 11 °C (52 °F) in the far north (see Amritsar), and 14 °C (57 °F) in New Delhi. In addition, nights can be cold, and fog can form at night and in the early morning, which can keep the temperature quite low even during the day, especially from mid-December to mid-January. Furthermore, this is a very polluted area, especially in winter.
In the center-south, temperatures are higher, and the daily average is around 19 °C (66 °F) at the Tropic of Cancer, while it exceeds 25 °C (77 °F) in the south, where there is summery heat even in this month.
Sometimes it can get very hot, in fact the temperature can reach 35 °C (95 °F) on the south-west coast (see Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Kochi), especially in the second half of the month.

As regards to the rain, as mentioned, January is generally a dry month, actually, on average it is the driest of the year in India. In fact, the winter monsoon brings winds from the north-east, which are dry everywhere. However, sometimes it can still rain until mid-January on the Andaman Islands.
On the other hand, in the mountains of the north-west (see Srinagar), disturbances may pass from the west, bringing rain and snowfall.

India is located at medium-low latitudes, however, in January the days are quite short in the northern part, where the sun remains above the horizon for about 10 hours on average.

The sea is warm enough for swimming everywhere, even in the northernmost areas (in Gujarat, i.e. in the north-west, on the Arabian Sea, and in West Bengal, i.e. in the north-east, on the Bay of Bengal), the water temperature is around 23 °C (73 °F). Instead, in the south the sea is pleasantly warm, in fact the water temperature is around 28 °C (82 °F).




See also: India, the weather in December - February
The climate of India