India will experience a hotter summer with more heatwave days in many states in the coming summer, which begins on April 1, and goes on till June 30, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its summer forecast, reported HT.
Above normal day and night temperatures are likely over most parts of the country along with above normal heatwave days especially over northwest and east India, IMD said in its forecast on Monday.
The outlet explained that normally there are four to seven heatwave days between April and June, but this time there could be between six and 10. The newspaper said that the weather office declares a heatwave when the temperature touches or exceeds 45°C (if it touches or exceeds 47°C, IMD declares a severe heat wave), or if the maximum temperature touches 40°C in the plains, 30°C in the hills, and 37°C in the coast, and is higher than normal by between 4.5°C and 6.4°C (if the deviation is higher than that, IMD declares a severe heat wave).
India at risk of losing lives as it lacks plans to fight extreme heat: Study
A new report found that Indian cities are not equipped to deal with extreme heat, Carboncopy reported. The report by Sustainable Futures Collaborative based its findings on nine cities — Bengaluru, Delhi, Faridabad, Gwalior, Kota, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mumbai, and Surat — projected to face the highest increases in heat index values.
The report said all nine cities have short-term measures (access to drinking water, changing work schedules, and boosting hospital capacity) but lag behind in long-term strategies, which can lead to a higher mortality rate due to heat.
Long-term measures — like making household or occupational cooling available to the most heat-exposed, developing insurance cover for lost work, expanding fire management services for heat waves, and electricity grid retrofits to improve transmission reliability — require dedicated resources, the report found as it recommended institutional changes like strengthening heat action plans in local governments, drawing on state disaster funds and authorising heat officers to implement measures.
India warmed slower than the rest, but warming to increase now: Harvard scientist
Increase in temperatures in India has been lower than in other parts of the world, according to the data from the US agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). But this will change and India will have to adapt to higher rates of warming, a Harvard University climate scientist was quoted by HT.
“The good news is that India has not warmed as quickly. …it is expected to warm faster in the next 20 to 40 years,” said Harvard University’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program co-director Daniel P Schrag at the four-day “India 2047—Building A Climate Resilient Future” conference. He said aerosols or pollution radiating heat back and massive irrigation in agricultural lands, which leads to an increase in soil moisture and evaporation, could be two explanations why warming may be slower in India.
South Korea wildfires ‘biggest on record’ killing 27 people
At least 27 people have been killed in South Korean wildfires that doubled in size in a day destroying hundreds of buildings in the south-eastern province of North Gyeongsang, reported the Guardian. The “snowballing damage” from the wildfires destroyed a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple, as well as houses, factories and vehicles, while burning more than 43,000 acres, reported Skynews. The blaze is only 68% contained, reported Reuters. It has been exacerbated by gusty winds and shown “unimaginable” scale and speed, according to Lee Byung-doo, a forest disaster expert at the National Institute of Forest Science, the newswire said. Lee added that climate change is projected to make wildfires more frequent globally, citing the unusual timing of wildfires that ravaged part of Los Angeles in January and a recent wildfire in northeast Japan.
Delay in prevention of deforestation ‘doubles’ cost of mitigating climate change: study
“Delaying action” on deforestation and forest degradation by five years “doubles” the costs of mitigating climate change, according to new research published in Nature. Using an energy-economy model and a land-use model, researchers investigated the cost of different mitigation measures under a middle-of-the-road emissions pathway. They found that meeting climate objectives would be possible, even with forest disturbances, but only with “accelerated decarbonisation”. They conclude: “Our results suggest that immediate, ambitious mitigation action is the most effective way to prepare for so-far underexplored consequences” of forest disturbances.
Sea ice coverage in Arctic last winter lowest on record: Scientists
US scientists said that the Arctic ended winter with the lowest sea ice coverage on record, according to the Press Association. The Arctic tends to reach its maximum sea ice level in February or March each year and then starts a melt season through to September.
AP reported that the National Snow and Ice Data Centre reported that the peak measurement taken on Saturday was about 30,000 square miles smaller than the lowest previous peak in 2017, described as a “difference about the size of California”. With the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the world, this latest development is “a symptom of climate change that will have repercussions globally”, the article added. Researcher Jennifer Francis warned that “disappearing sea ice is a particularly worrisome story because it’s truly an early warning system alerting us about a variety of hard-to-see changes”.
The NYT reported that US scientific agencies monitoring weather and climate data – similar to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre – have come under attack under the Trump administration.
Climate change drives surge in global energy demand
Record-high temperatures helped drive a “surge” in global energy demand growth in 2024, reported the Financial Times, citing new research from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA found that greenhouse gas emissions from energy use rose 0.8% in 2024, half of which was due to increased demand for cooling. The report said intense heatwaves in China and India drove up the use of coal to generate the electricity needed to power air conditioners, which pushed global energy demand up 2.2% compared with a rate of 1.3% over the previous decade and a 1.8% rise the previous year. Production of electric cars and the expansion of data centres needed for artificial intelligence were also to blame for rising power demands, with server capacity increasing by a fifth – mostly in the US and China, the report said, adding that “Global electricity consumption rose by nearly 1,100 terawatt hours, more than twice the average annual increase over the past decade.”
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