Surat, a major diamond and textile city in Gujarat, sits on the Tapti River close to the Arabian Sea coast in western India at approximately 21.17°N, 72.83°E. Its coastal position gives it a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — hot and humid — with a hot pre-monsoon season, a heavy monsoon and mild winters, and it is markedly more humid than inland Gujarat.

Summer, from March to June, is hot and increasingly humid, with May the hottest month — highs around 36–38°C — tempered somewhat by sea breezes off the Arabian Sea compared with the fiercer inland heat. The monsoon then bursts in June and runs to September, bringing torrential rain, oppressive humidity and frequent flooding along the low-lying Tapti River.

Winter, from November to February, is mild and dry, with January the coolest month — highs around 30°C and comfortable nights near 15–17°C, well above frost thanks to the coastal position. Rain is essentially absent, humidity is lower, and this warm, dry, sunny stretch is comfortably the pleasantest time of year.

Surat is fairly wet, receiving around 1,100–1,200 mm of rain a year, overwhelmingly delivered by the southwest monsoon between June and September, with July the wettest month; the rest of the year is very dry. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Surat's low-lying position on the Tapti River, close to the Arabian Sea, makes flooding its most serious hazard: heavy monsoon rain over the catchment, sometimes combined with dam releases upstream and high tides, has repeatedly inundated the city, most devastatingly in the great flood of 2006.

To follow any single measurement in Surat more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.