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For the second month in a row, temperatures in India and Pakistan are unusually high due to a series of strong and prolonged heat waves – and now a new jump is intensifying.
Temperatures have already jumped to dangerously high levels. They exceeded 110 degrees in the Indian capital Delhi on Thursday and Friday, where the pavement melted from the heat as several cities broke April records.
The Times of India reported that Delhi celebrated its second hottest April in 72 years on Friday with an average high temperature of 104 degrees (40.2 degrees Celsius).
The city of Nawabshah in Pakistan reached 117.5 degrees (47.5 degrees Celsius) on Thursday – the hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere so far this year.
The heat wave has increased the danger of fire in recent days, threatened the harvest and even accelerated the melting of some glaciers. Although this part of the world is no stranger to extreme heat, scientists say conditions have worsened due to climate change.
“Heat waves are happening more often now and are spreading all year round,” said Amir Aga Kuczak, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, in an email. “This is the new normal and will probably only get worse in the future, unless we take serious action.
India’s meteorological department has put much of the nation under “warm surveillance” over the weekend, with some places like Madhya Pradesh in the center of the country one step higher on “heat warnings” until Saturday.
Temperatures in this episode are expected to peak over the weekend, although the hot temperature over the subcontinent seems to be in place, with little significant relief.
On Friday, more than 50 locations in India recorded temperatures of 111 degrees (44 degrees Celsius) or more, including in the vast capital Delhi, where readings rose to 115.1 degrees (46.2 degrees Celsius) at the sports complex. The official maximum in the city was 110.3 degrees (43.5 degrees Celsius) on both Thursday and Friday, its highest value in April for 12 years.
Gurgaon, southwest of New Delhi, broke its monthly record for April on Thursday and again on Friday when it reached 114.6 degrees (45.9 degrees Celsius), breaking its previous record of 112.6 degrees (44.8 degrees Celsius) in 1979
Lucknow, the largest city in the northeastern state of Uttar Pradesh, exceeded 113 degrees (45.1 degrees Celsius), setting a new April record on Friday. April records were also set in the northeastern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the city of Banda reached 117.3 degrees (47.4 degrees Celsius), while Prayagradj reached 116 (46.8 degrees Celsius).
More temperature records are expected to fall as the heat could escalate further on weekends, with little relief at night.
According to Maximiliano Herrera, an expert on global extreme weather conditions, India’s highest April temperature was 118.9 degrees (48.3 degrees Celsius), reached Barmer in 1958. Nawabshah, Pakistan, about two hours inland from the Arabian Sea , reached 122.4 degrees (50.2 degrees). Celsius) four years ago.
Pakistan is likely to have the highest temperatures overall. Some places north of the capital of Karachi can reach 120 degrees (49 degrees Celsius) or more over the weekend. The forecast for Jacobabad, known as one of the hottest cities on Earth, is up to 122 degrees (50 degrees Celsius), which could test big records.
Power outages, fires and low yields
Intense heat has caused significant power outages, described as the worst in years. Much of India’s rural areas do not have access to air conditioning. Unprecedented heat waves at the beginning of the season are causing great health concerns in a country accustomed to the dangers of hot conditions.
“The unpleasant reality is that the people who are more vulnerable are the ones who will be most affected,” said Aga Kuczak. “Lack of access to air conditioning, which is more common in poor and underserved communities, significantly increases the likelihood of heat stroke and heat wave mortality.
Even without extreme heat waves, AghaKouchak found that only a moderate rise in temperature could dramatically increase mortality. Over the past five decades, warming around 0.92 degrees (0.5 degrees Celsius) has increased the likelihood of heat-related deaths to more than 100 people by 146 percent.
Most of these dangers are due to rising night temperatures. Aga Kuczak said that temperatures usually drop at night, which allows our bodies to cool down. Without this cooling, prolonged heat increases the risk of heat exhaustion, cramps, strokes and even death.
“While we usually look at daytime temperature extremes, nighttime temperatures are also really important for human health. “Night heat waves have also increased significantly in densely populated areas of India,” said Aga Kuchak. He and his colleagues had previously found that the hottest nights of 1981-2013 warmed by 0.92 degrees (0.51 degrees Celsius) per decade.
How climate change is making parts of the world too hot and humid to survive
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said rising temperatures have increased the risk of fires across the country. In the last few days alone, satellites have seen a large increase in hotspots, especially in the north. A fire at a landfill outside New Delhi emitted toxic fumes, causing a nearby school to close on Tuesday.
Waves of relentless heat also affect the harvest. Wheat arrivals are reported to be 20 percent below 2021 in parts of the country this year. The decrease is mainly due to the constant temperatures above 104 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) in Punjab – the country’s granary – during the growing season.
The decline in yield is largely due to crops that have ripened too quickly and have wrinkled grains due to the early heat. This comes at a time when India was hoping to fill some of the gaps in the world market, such as those created by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
There are also fears that the heat wave is rapidly melting glaciers, which could lead to sudden and river floods, according to Pakistan’s meteorological department.
While India is often exposed to intense heat episodes, research shows that the frequency, duration and intensity have increased with increasing global temperatures.
A February study found that human activity played a bigger role than natural causes, stating that “anthropogenic factors caused a twofold increase in the likelihood of severe heat waves in central and central southern India in the twentieth century.” The risk of heat waves is expected to increase tenfold in the 21st century and in some future climate change scenarios.
“The extreme heatwave that is sweeping India this week comes on top of the 1C warming the country has already experienced,” tweeted Zick Hausfater, a climate researcher at Stripe, a global technology company. “According to our current emission trajectory (SSP2-4.5), India is heading for a warming of about 3.5 degrees by the end of the century.
It is hot over India and it is predicted that the heat wave will continue with serious impacts. Heat waves, which would be rare without climate change, but are, like the world’s hot waves, much more common now and will become more and more as we burn fossil fuels. pic.twitter.com/bE1O8wMMsQ
– Dr. Frederic Otto (@FrediOtto) April 26, 2022
Terrible high-pressure “heat domes” such as the one that has been hovering over India in recent months have been found to be more frequent and intense than in the past. Similar record temperature settings occurred in the Northwest Pacific in 2021, among other recent cases around the world.
Temperatures tend to peak in India in April and May or just before the rainy season – a seasonal change in winds called the monsoon – begins. The more cloudy and rainy monsoon conditions usually pass north and west of the Indian Ocean in late May and early summer, lasting until early autumn.
While readings are expected to fall shortly after this weekend, there are signs of a resumption after that.
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