Enduring hottest summers and highest temperatures

India endured its second hottest year on record in 2023 according to the latest annual publication released by Down to Earth (DTE) and Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment titled ‘State of Environment in Figures 2024’on May 31, 2024.

According to DTE’s press release, India experienced its highest minimum temperature for December in 122 years, registering a notable anomaly of 1.71°C above normal in 2023, marked by remarkably warm winters, monsoons and post-monsoon periods. At least 102 weather stations across 26 states and Union Territories shattered their monthly highest 24-hour maximum temperature in 122 years.

As per the report, 10 of these stations were in million-plus cities — Bengaluru, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Kota, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Visakhapatnam. Twenty-seven of the weather stations with record-breaking temperatures were in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (9 each). Thirty-four of the weather stations with record-breaking 24-hour maximum temperatures were reported in September.

The DTE analysis, based on data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for 2023, also showed that India recorded its hottest minimum temperature in 122 years in 2023. Temperature records — whether maximum, mean, or minimum — were consistently broken during the last six months of 2023. Except for October, minimum temperatures remained above normal in the other five months, with anomalies increasing from 0.57°C in July to 1.71°C in December. The country experienced its highest minimum temperature for December in 122 years, registering a notable anomaly of 1.71°C above normal. In the first four months of 2024, except for March, the average minimum temperatures remained above normal in three months — January, February and April — with anomalies of 0.97°C, 0.79°C and 0.88°C, respectively.

The average minimum temperature in the southern peninsular region was above the normal during all first four months of 2024, revealed the trends released by the IMD in the monthly climate summaries, according to the DTE analysis. Thus, in 2024, the southern peninsular region consistently experienced its second-highest minimum temperature for all the four months in 122 years. The DTE release points out that India’s southern peninsula recorded ‘above normal’ average minimum temperature during the first four months of 2024, revealed the trends released by IMD in the monthly climate summaries. The region also consistently experienced its second-highest minimum temperature in 122 years during these 4 months. The rising maximum temperature and record breaking temperature reported from Delhi and other states is worrying. The trend for minimum temperature in 2023 and 2024 so far suggests a new normal for minimum temperatures, indicating that nights are becoming warmer.

An India Today (IT) report warns that India faces record-breaking heatwave worsened by climate change. Extreme heat has forced schools to close early for the summer in India. Temperatures in at least 37 cities exceeded 45ºC and nighttime temperatures remained as high as 36ºC in some locations. There have been over 16,000 heat stroke cases and 60 heat-related deaths since March 2024, although this number is likely a huge underestimate, the report says. Last week, an outlier temperature above 52ºC was reported in Delhi, but this is still being evaluated and rechecked. City authorities have also warned of a risk of water shortages and the power grid tripping. Delhi’s city record of 49.2ºC from 2002 had been broken the day before, with temperatures reaching 49.9ºC on May 27, 2024.

The IT report points out that climate change, predominantly caused by burning fossil fuels and exacerbated by human interference, is making heatwaves hotter and more likely to happen everywhere in the world, according to scientists who study how extreme events are changing. Cities are more vulnerable to the compounding effects of urbanisation and climate change. Quoting the IPCC, the IT report highlights that heatwaves that occurred once every 10 years without human-caused warming are now likely to occur 2.8 times more often (or once every 3.6 years) and are 1.5ºC warmer because of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. Extreme heatwaves that occurred once every 50 years without human-caused warming are now likely to occur 4.8 times more often (or once every 10.4 years) and are 1.5ºC warmer. If emissions are not cut much faster than planned, they will become 2-3 times more common again.