Rains Lash South India as Early Cold Wave Grips Central and Northern India

India saw a sharp split in weather this week with the IMD issuing warnings for both heavy rain in the south and an early cold wave in central India. The southern states stayed busy with rain and thunderstorms, especially across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Karnataka. Heavy rain hit Tamil Nadu and Kerala between November 13 and 18, with thunderstorms and squally winds over the southwest Bay of Bengal early in the week.

Meanwhile, central and northern states slipped into an early cold wave. West and East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and parts of Rajasthan recorded below-normal temperatures and isolated severe cold wave conditions through November 15. Mumbai also felt the chills. Santacruz recorded a minimum of 19.6°C, 2.3°C below normal, and Colaba dipped to 22.4°C, alongside rising pollution levels.

Northeast India experienced shallow fog and a slight dip in temperatures, while most other regions remained dry and stable.

Climate change has driven dengue into a year-round threat in Goa, say health experts

Dengue is no longer confined to the monsoon months in Goa and has become a year-round threat, The Times of India reported, citing Dr Kalpana Mahatme, who oversees the state’s vector-borne disease control programme. She said unseasonal rain driven by climate change, along with a steady inflow of tourists and migrant labour, is keeping transmission active beyond the usual season. 

Health centres have been told to watch construction sites and migrant settlements, as the Aedes mosquito is already established in the state. Residents have been urged to prevent any stagnant water and get tested at the first sign of fever. Goa recorded 11 dengue cases in October and 84 this year, down from 511 last year.

Scientists undertake expedition to study Arunachal’s glaciers

A week-long scientific expedition to study how Himalayan glaciers are responding to climate change began last week in Arunachal Pradesh’s Mago Chu basin beneath Gorichen Mountain. The fourth Khangri glacier mission is being led by glaciologist Dr Parmanand Sharma and jointly organised by the Centre for Earth Sciences & Himalayan Studies and the National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research. Despite Arunachal’s 161 glaciers across four major basins, almost none have undergone long-term field monitoring, making the region a major blind spot in India’s cryosphere research. The team will measure glacier mass balance, movement, and the evolution of glacial lakes, including potential GLOF risks. Findings are expected to improve understanding of climate impacts and the Brahmaputra basin’s long-term water security.

Climate change and fertiliser misuse depleting India’s soil carbon, ICAR study finds

A major ICAR study found that unscientific fertiliser use and climate change are driving a decline in soil organic carbon across India’s arable land. The six-year project, coordinated by the Indian Institute of Soil Science and based on more than 2.5 lakh soil samples from 620 districts, shows that organic carbon levels are tightly linked to temperature, rainfall and elevation. 

Warmer regions such as Rajasthan and Telangana recorded lower carbon levels, while higher elevations showed richer soils. Cropping patterns also played a role. Rice- and pulse-based systems maintained higher carbon than wheat and coarse grains. States with imbalanced fertiliser use, including Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, saw sharper declines. The findings warn that rising temperatures could further deplete soil carbon and worsen land degradation.

2025 on track to be one of the hottest years ever, warns UN 

The UN warned that 2025 is on track to be one of the hottest years ever recorded, driven by exceptional temperatures and record-high greenhouse gas concentrations. While it will not surpass 2024, it is expected to rank second or third, extending a decade-long streak of unprecedented warming. 

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the first eight months of 2025 were already 1.42°C above pre-industrial levels, and rising emissions mean the world is veering off the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C pathway. UN officials described missing the target as a moral failure, but stressed that temperatures could still be brought back down by century’s end with rapid action. The report also highlighted shrinking Arctic and Antarctic sea ice and escalating extreme weather impacts worldwide.

Solar geoengineering could reduce crop nutrition, warns study 

A new study in Environmental Research Letters finds that cooling the planet by injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere — a proposed solar geoengineering method known as stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI) — could lower the protein content of major global crops. Researchers at Rutgers University used climate and crop models to examine how SAI would affect corn, rice, wheat and soybeans. They found that while higher CO₂ levels reduce crop protein and higher temperatures tend to increase it, SAI would prevent warming and allow the CO₂ effect to dominate, resulting in lower protein levels. The biggest declines would hit regions already facing malnutrition. The authors stress that more field research is needed to fully understand SAI’s risks before any decisions are made.

Scientists criticise Bill Gates’s climate memo

Bill Gates’s new memo on the climate crisis drew sharp criticism from climate scientists, who said it relied on straw man arguments and false binaries, reported The Guardian. In the 17-page note, Gates argued that global warming would not cause humanity’s demise and urged a shift from cutting emissions toward reducing poverty. Scientists countered that no one had predicted human extinction. The concern was rising suffering with every fraction of a degree of warming. Researchers like Zeke Hausfather rejected Gates’s claim that climate spending reduced aid budgets, noting it was not a zero-sum tradeoff. Others said the memo downplayed the scale of climate impacts and misrepresented current science. The debate unfolded just days before the COP30 negotiations in Brazil.

Scientists warn warming seas are supercharging deadly typhoons like Kalmaegi

Typhoon Kalmaegi, the year’s deadliest storm, tore through the Philippines before hitting central Vietnam, killing more than 190 people across both countries and leaving widespread destruction. Scientists warned that such extreme events are becoming more intense as rising global temperatures warm sea surfaces in the western Pacific and South China Sea. Warmer waters load storms with more moisture and energy, increasing the likelihood of heavier rain and stronger winds, even if overall cyclone numbers are not rising. 

Researchers noted a clear uptick in the most intense storms and rapid intensification episodes, alongside back-to-back systems that compound damage. The storm’s arrival coincided with global climate talks in Brazil, underscoring growing risks for low-lying regions in Southeast Asia.

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