CSE report: This year was the second hottest pre-monsoon, in 20 years, heat took more than 20 thousand lives

This year the pre-monsoon months were the second warmest since 2010 in terms of recorded temperatures in India's history. It broke the record in the year 2016. Big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad also remained hot. The reason for this was considered to be heat-island, traffic, industries, increasing use of AC, and waste. Heat islands are hard surfaces that store heat so that the temperature of cities does not decrease even during the day.

The Center for Science and Environment (CSE) has released the report based on the data collected from the Indian Meteorological Department. According to this, the extreme heat in the north-western part of the country got everyone's attention, but almost the same trend is seen in the whole country. The depleting ponds in the cities and decreasing greenery are adding to the heat. The pre-monsoon time covers the summer months from March to May. The report claimed that 20,615 people died from heat waves from 2000 to 2020.

above average heat in monsoon

The June-September temperature, as per the nationwide average, was 0.3 to 0.4 degrees above the pre-monsoon months. The average temperature for this decade was 0.49 degrees above the baseline from 1951 to 1980. The increase was 0.73 degrees more in the post-monsoon months i.e. October to December and 0.68 degrees more in the winter months of January and February.

The average temperature was 1.24 degrees higher

The mean air temperature in pre-monsoon in 2022 was 1.24 degrees above the baseline. This baseline is determined by the temperature recorded between 1971 and 2000. Earlier, the average temperature was 1.20 degrees in 2016 and 1.45 degrees in 2010.

In March-April this year, the daily mean maximum temperature of northwest India was 4 degrees above the baseline from 1981 to 2010. These regions include Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Rajasthan.

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