New Delhi: Amid rising global temperatures and debates around climate change, the latest report by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) released Friday showed that the country has lost 2,770 human lives to extreme weather events in 2022.
In its report titled State-wise Annual Climate Statement for the Year 2022, the meteorological department not just highlighted not only death numbers, but also revealed that Himachal Pradesh’s mean surface temperatures reached 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than what they were 100 years ago.
The report by the IMD was released “in an effort to create more awareness among stakeholders in the state”, said the department’s statement.
According to the report, 2,770 people died in 2022 due to extreme weather events across the country. Of these, 1,580 deaths were reported due to lightning and thunderstorms, while 1,050 deaths were caused due to floods and heavy rains. The remaining reported deaths were due to heatwaves, dust storms and hailstorms, the data revealed.
The state-wise break up of the data showed that Uttar Pradesh had the greatest number of reported deaths at 589, followed by Bihar (418), Assam (258), Maharashtra (240) and Odisha (194). Tripura, Punjab, Goa, Nagaland, and Sikkim had the fewest recorded deaths.
ThePrint had earlier reported that deaths due to lightning have more than doubled between 1967 and 2021, driven by global warming-induced climate change.
Rise in temperature
According to the IMD’s state-wise statement, nearly every state in the country has experienced a rise in temperature from its normal value since pre-industrial times.
Like Himachal Pradesh, Goa’s mean temperature has risen by 1.44 degrees Celcius in the past 100 years, while Kerala has seen an increase of 1.05 degrees.
These rises in temperatures have already led to changes in the monsoons and accelerated glacial melt in the country.
In terms of rains, Goa’s rainfall has increased by over 20mm over the last 100 years, followed by Gujarat (15.1mm), and Tripura (10.3mm), said the report.
According to the data, the greatest anomaly in rainfall was experienced by Karnataka in 2022, which saw excess rainfall of 138 per cent of the long-term average, while the state with the largest deficiency was Mizoram, at 74 per cent of the LPA.
The LPA — calculated as the average rainfall during the season over the country as a whole between 1971 and 2020 — is 87 centimetres. Rainfall is considered to be within the normal range if it falls between 96 and 106 per cent of the LPA.
At 83mm, Arunachal Pradesh has experienced a severe reduction in rainfall over the last years, followed by Nagaland (62mm) and Manipur (22mm), it added.
A previous version of this report said it was the first annual state-wise climate whatever statement. IMD has published such statements in the past. The error is regretted.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)