Climate

Temperature: Bundelkhand is a hot and semi-humid region. Minimum Temperature varies from around 6 deg C in Chhatarpur to 12 deg C Maximum Temperature  varies from 38 deg to 48 deg C. Banda is one of the hottest places in India, and several people die of sunstroke here every year.

Rainfall: Bundelkhand gets moderate annual rainfall, ranging from around 750 mm in the northwest, to 1250 mm in the southeast. But precipitation is erratic; a deluge is followed by long stretches of no rain. Pre-monsoon showers with lighting and hail are witnessed. Over 95% of the rainfall falls between June and September, with maximum rain generally in July-August. However, the small amount of rainfall between Novembers to May is also very important for agriculture in the region. Rainwater has little time to penetrate the soil. The problem of poor groundwater recharge is aggravated by the substratum of impermeable rock.     Four districts of Bundelkhand - Jalaun, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur    and Mahoba - fall under the category of 'drought prone area', used by the 1981 National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas.

Natural Challenges: Due to its geology and topography and the pattern of rainfall received, Bundelkhand is prone to both drought and flood. In most parts of the entire region, an impermeable rocky layer is found at fairly shallow depths. Hence runoff of both rainwater and soil is high. The problem is aggravated by erratic rainfall and thin forest cover in many districts. Hence, drought or flood hits some or other part of Bundelkhand every few years. The pattern and extent of drought and flood in a particular district in last 10 years 

  According to a report ,  prepared by a central government team under the chairmanship of Dr JS Samra, head of the National Rain fed Area Authority, following visits to Bundelkhand districts in December 2007 and April 2008, moderate to severe agricultural drought occurred for two to four years in all the 13 districts of the region.

   Hydrological drought was evident from a decline of 15% to 47% in level of reservoirs in MP Bundelkhand, and 28% to 64% per cent decline in UP Bundelkhand reservoirs in 2005-2007. The team noted that 70% of the region's tanks and ponds had dried up there was a steep fall in groundwater levels. Net sown area in 2007-08 ranged from 15% to 80% of normal, with an average of 60%, and grain production declined by 22%. While 15% to 20% of the labor migrate from Bundelkhand after wheat sowing operations, this figure was reported to be 40%  in 2007-08, the team noted.