2022 India–Pakistan heat wave
TypeHeat wave
AreasIndia, Pakistan
Start dateMarch 2022 (2022-03)
End dateJune 2022
Losses
Deaths90

The 2022 India–Pakistan heat wave was an extreme weather event which resulted in the hottest March in the subcontinent since 1901. The hot season arrived unusually early in the year and extended into April, affecting a large part of India's northwest and Pakistan.[1][2] The heatwave was combined with a drought, with rainfall being only a quarter to a third of normal. It occurred during a La Niña event, in which heat records are generally less likely.[3]

Several cities across India had high temperatures over 42.8 °C (109.0 °F), with Wardha rising to 45 °C (113 °F).[4] In Pakistan, the city of Nawabshah recorded a high temperature of 49.5 °C (121.1 °F)[5] and Jacobabad and Sibi both reached 47 °C (117 °F). Pakistan's Minister of Climate Change Sherry Rehman described it as a "spring-less year".[6]

Severity and significance

The heat wave broke records for temperature highs in Pakistan and India.[7] The wave has also received attention due to its length.[7]

Impacts

Impact on agriculture

During the 2022 food crises, India began taking steps to export more rice and wheat, in part to fill the gaps created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8] However, the heatwave caused increasing local prices and lower supply, issues also exacerbated by the war increasing fertilizer prices.[9] The heat wave occurred mostly during the final weeks of the wheat growing season, killing the plants shortly before harvest.[3][10]

The heatwave strongly impacted agriculture in India. At the same time early rainfall in India was 71% lower than the norm. In Punjab, the main crop producer in India, 15% of the harvest was lost and in some regions even 30%.[11] The heatwave caused a reverse in policy by Indian government, from trying to import to address the crises, to halting exports.[12]

The heatwave has also severely impacted peach and apple harvests in Balochistan.[13]

Nature and the environment

The heatwave has resulted in birds falling from the sky in Gujarat.[14]

Bridge collapse

The Hassanabad Bridge in Hunza Valley, Pakistan collapsed after a glacial lake released large amounts of water into a stream caused by the heatwave.[15]

Electricity shortages

India faced its worst electricity shortage in more than six years, and demand due to the heat wave strained the electric grid in the country.[16] Scorching temperatures forced early closures of schools and sent people indoors.[16] Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh all reduced power allocated to industry due to an increase in power consumption dedicated to cooling.

The high power demand increased demand for coal in India, which is the main source of electricity generation in the country. The state-run enterprise Coal India increased its output by 27%. Indian Railways had to cancel hundreds of passenger trains as an emergency measure to prioritize hauling coal to coal power plants to avoid blackouts.[17] The state also requested that electricity providers imported some 19 million tonnes of coal before the end of June.[18]

On Friday, 29 April 2022, demand for electricity reached 207 gigawatts, an all-time high in India, representing an increase of two gigawatts of demand over the previous day.[13][19]

Causes

A real-time extreme event attribution study by the World Weather Attribution project showed that the heat wave was made 30 times more likely due to climate change.[20][21]

The occurrence of the heatwave was consistent with underlying climate change in Pakistan and in India.[22] Indian scientists said that the major proximate cause was "weak western disturbances – storms originating in the Mediterranean region – which meant little pre-monsoon rainfall in north-western and central India".[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Saaliq, Sheikh (April 11, 2022). "India's northwest reels under unusual early heat wave". ABC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  2. ↑ Smith, Saphora (April 26, 2022). "India's heatwave compared to start of climate disaster novel". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Vaughan, Adam (April 26, 2022). "Severe Indian heatwave will bake a billion people and damage crops". New Scientist. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  4. ↑ Cappucci, Matthew (April 25, 2022). "Record heat has gripped India since March. It's about to get worse". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  5. ↑ Harvey, Chelsea (May 3, 2022). "Astonishing Heat Grips India and Pakistan". Scientific American. Springer Nature. Environment & Energy Publishing. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  6. ↑ Mogul, Rhea; Mitra, Esha; Suri, Manveena; Saifi, Sophia (3 May 2022). "India and Pakistan heatwave is 'testing the limits of human survivability'". CNN. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  7. 1 2 Harvey, Chelsea (3 May 2022). "Astonishing Heat Grips India and Pakistan". Scientific American. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Bhardwaj, Mayank (16 March 2022). "EXCLUSIVE India acts to seize gap in wheat export market left by Ukraine war". Reuters. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Explained: How heatwave might thwart India's dream to feed the world". Firstpost. 2022-04-20. Archived from the original on 2022-04-24. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  10. ↑ Kumar, Hari; Ives, Mike (28 April 2022). "The Extreme Heat Pummeling India and Pakistan Is About to Get Worse". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  11. ↑ Mathews, Bailee (18 July 2022). "Climate Change and the Global Food Supply". American Security Project. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Diksha Madhok (18 May 2022). "India offered to help fix the global food crisis. Here's why it backtracked". CNN. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  13. 1 2 Ellis-Petersen, Hannah; Meer Baloch, Shah (2 May 2022). "'We are living in hell': Pakistan and India suffer extreme spring heatwaves". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "It's so hot in India that birds are falling out of the sky. why falling?". The Independent. 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  15. ↑ "Historic bridge crumbles amid Pakistan floods". BBC News. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  16. 1 2 Varadhan, Sudarshan (28 April 2022). "India sweats over worst power cuts in six years during extreme heat". Reuters. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Varadhan, Sudarshan (2022-04-29). "Power-hungry India halts passenger trains to free up track to move coal". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  18. ↑ Varadhan, Sudarshan (3 May 2022). "India sets end-June coal import targets as power woes mount". Reuters. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  19. ↑ Singh, Sarita C. (30 April 2022). "Power demand spikes to all-time high of 207 GW". The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  20. ↑ Butler, Lottie; Stack-Maddox, Siobhan (May 26, 2022). "Climate change made deadly heatwave in India and Pakistan 30 times more likely" (Press release). Imperial College London. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  21. ↑ Ghosal, Aniruddha (May 24, 2022). "South Asia's intense heat wave a 'sign of things to come'". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  22. ↑ "Successive heatwaves in India and Pakistan highlight role of early warnings" (Press release). World Meteorological Organization. 2022-04-29. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  23. ↑ Hrishikesh, Sharanya; Sebastian, Meryl (2022-05-16). "Delhi suffers at 49C as heatwave sweeps India". BBC News. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
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