May heat wave in India 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than previous extremes. Water storage in 150 major reservoirs in India dropped to just 22 per cent of their live storage this week, exacerbating water shortages in many states and significantly affecting hydropower generation.

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1. Heatwaves like those experienced in India this May are nearly 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the country’s previously recorded hottest heatwaves, according to a new rapid attribution study by an independent group of climate scientists and researchers.

   The analysts at ClimaMeter said the intense and prolonged heat wave India endured in May was a result of the naturally occurring El Nino phenomenon — unusual warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean — and the rapidly increasing concentration of greenhouse gases — primarily carbon dioxide and methane — in the atmosphere.

   The researchers analyzed how events similar to the high temperatures in India’s May heatwave changed in the present (2001-2023) compared to the past (1979-2001).

   “The temperature changes show that similar events produce temperatures in the present climate at least 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than what they would have been in the past over a large area of the region analyzed. The precipitation changes do not show any significant variations,” the analysis read.