CLIMATE

Guntur City falls within the hot humid region of the country and it is not more than 40 miles from the Sea.  The climate of the district is generally hot is summer.

Month-wise maximum and minimum temperatures recorded at Rentachintala and Ongole, on the sea coast, from 1951 will show comparative idea of the temperatures at Guntur. It may be observed that the hottest day of the year occurs generally in May at both the places, while the coolest day falls between November and January at both these places. The maximum tempe-rature in any month at Ongole is less than at Rentachintala for the month and the minimum temperature at Ongole is more than that of Rentachintala.

The figures for Guntur will fall between the two maximums and two minimums of the above centres (for any month) being itself located in the widdle of both the extremities.

The statement (Appendix-II) will show the rainfall in Guntur town from 1951 to 1963.  The normal rainfall is 32.4". It can be seen that from December to April the Rainfall will be nominal.  Slight showers fall at the end of May and Monsoon actually begins in the month of June.  July to November may be regarded as the heaviest monsoon period.

TOPOGRAPHY

Guntur town is located at the point where the irrigated lands under Krishna Southern Canal system and dry uplands of Guntur district begin.  Unlike Vijayawada, in Guntur the land slopes from North-West to South-East with an ideal gradient for drainage and water supply.  The special feature of this town is the existence of several tanks which were one serving the town as the main sources of the water supply.   The word Guntur in effect means the Tank village. As in the case of Vijayawada, the Railway line devides the town into two halves.  Almost all recent extensions of the town are in the West and North-West region beyond the Railway line.  The National Highway 5 passes right through the highly developed parts of the town.

From the Grand National Trunk Road several district roads branch off in all directions from Guntur.  Important among them are the State Highway to Hyderabad, via Nagarjunasagar the major district roads to Amaravathi and Tenali.

For Railways, Guntur is an important junction which has direct train facility to Cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Cochin, Tiruvananthapuram.  Indian Railways has constituted a NEW RAILWAY DIVISION, which has commenced its operations from 1 st April, 2003.

HUMIDITY

The atmospheric humidity in the region around Guntur ranges from 63% to 81%.  The maximum humidity is observed during the month of September.  This is due to the fact that by the end of August this region would have received considerable rains and all the tanks will be full and rivers and streams will be flowing in rapids. These vast water sheets make the atmospheric humidity in the region as high as 81%.  In the dry and hot months of April and May when almost all the tanks and water resources are dry, the maximum humidity will be only about 63%.

For the purposes of studying the orientation of buildings and human settlements, it is necessary to study the characteristics of wind direction during all seasons of the year. The entire hot humid region covered by the Coramandal coast has two seasons :

1) Warm season between October and March & 2) Hot season between April and September.

It has no cold seasons. The atmosphere is generally humid. Therefore, the orientation of the buildings for wind becomes necessary.  During the hottest months of April and May, the wind for most of days is South and South-West, in the early hours, of the day and from South-East to North-West in the evening hours.

In the warm months of October to March, the wind flots from North East in the early hours of the day and mostly from South-East and East in the evening hours.  To get over the stuffiness in buildings in this host humid region, the buildings should be wind oriented.  Gond draught in the rooms in the early mornings and evening are necessary during the hot months of April to September.  Therefore, it is better to prefer the Orientation of Buildings in East to South-West Direction.