2021 was 5th warmest year in India since 1901: IMD

Tags: National News

The year 2021 was the fifth warmest year in India since nation-wide records commenced in the country in 1901. This is published in the 'Climate of India during 2021' report by India Meteorological Department (IMD).

• The report also shows that the country had reported a loss of 1,750 lives due to extreme weather events last year with Maharashtra being the most adversely affected state reporting 350 deaths.
• Among extreme weather events, lightning & thunderstorms took the highest 787 lives followed by heavy rains, floods, and landslides.
• On warming phenomena, the report shows that 11 out of 15 warmest years in the country were during the recent fifteen years (2007-2021) with the highest warming being observed during 2016 when it was 0.71 degrees above the long period average (LPA) based on 1981-2010 period.
• The relatively less cold winter last year primarily contributed to the overall high mean temperature in the year.
• The country averaged annual mean temperature during 1901-2021 showed an increasing trend of 0.63 degrees per 100 years with a significant increasing trend in maximum temperature and a relatively lower increasing trend in minimum temperature
• India's mean surface temperature appears to be in sync with the rise in the global mean surface temperature as per the observations of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which states that the global mean surface temperature was about 1.08 ±0.13 degrees above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
• As far as rainfall is concerned, the 2021 annual rainfall over the country as a whole was 105% of its LPA based on the 1961-2010 period. The southwest monsoon season rainfall over the country as a whole was 'normal' whereas the northeast/ post-monsoon season (October-December) rainfall was 'above normal'.
• The Centre on the 147th foundation day of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday launched operations of four new Doppler weather radars, one each in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Leh(highest altitude radar in India), to further improve the weather forecast system in these cities/region.