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INDIA-CLIMATE-WEATHER
India suffers hottest decade on record
NEW DELHI, Jan 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The last decade was India’s hottest on
record with the national weather office calling the impact of global warming
“unmistakable” and extreme weather killing more than 1,500 people last year.
India, home to 1.3 billion people, is at the forefront of climate change
suffering devastating floods, dire water shortages and baking temperatures.
The southern city of Chennai last year declared “day zero” as taps ran dry.
Temperatures between 2010 and 2019 were 0.36 degrees Celsius (0.65 degrees
Fahrenheit) above the long-term average, the hottest decade since records
began in 1901, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Monday.
Extreme weather also claimed more than 1,500 lives last year, the seventh-
hottest, the IMD said.
They included 850 people killed by heavy rain and flooding and another 350
in summer temperatures of up to 51 Celsius (123.8 Fahrenheit). Lighting and
storms claimed another 380 lives.
India’s five warmest years on record all fell in the last decade, with
2016 the hottest. Eleven of the 15 warmest years were also during the past 15
years, the IMD said. The average for 2019 would have been higher were it not
for record cold in northern India in December.
Last year also saw eight cyclones form over the north Indian Ocean, below
the record of 10 last reached in 1976, including five over the Arabian Sea,
equalling the previous high of 1902, the IMD said.
“The impact of global warming on India is unmistakable,” IMD chief
Mrityunjay Mohapatra told the Times of India. “The past year had extreme
weather during all seasons.”
The United Nations said in December that the past decade was set to be the
planet’s hottest since records began. Each of the last four decades has been
hotter than the preceding one.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1327HRS