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"While heatwaves are common in India, especially in May and June, summer began early this year with high temperatures from March, when the first heatwave arrive

"While heatwaves are common in India, especially in May and June, summer began early this year with high temperatures from March, when the first heatwave arrived." for anyone who thinks 49C in Delhi is some extreme temperature it's not really that far from usual maximum (2019 and 2020 both May max. 46C), I remember when I traveled during similar period all across India in non-AC bus (must been easily 50-60C inside) and when there was a bit of rain and temperature dropped to like 36C it felt so cool and refreshing, somewhere outside Delhi had to literally run to shadow in early afternoon with 40+ C temperatures "The temperature was recorded at 49.2°C in northwest Delhi’s Mungeshpur and 49.1°C in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh. It was the first time any weather station in the national capital breached the 49°C mark. These two automatic weather stations became operational only this year, so no past data is available, but the previous high in Delhi was recorded at 48.4°C at the Palam station on May 26, 1998."[1] so not really a fair comparison, they should show current data from Palam station to see whether this is record ot not edit: Palam station highest temperature in last 24 hours 46.4C, so not beating Delhi record, typical BBC "quality" reporting[2] [1] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/temperature-tops-49-c-in-parts-of-city-as-heatwave-soars-101652638349198.html https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/temperature-tops-4... [2] https://city.imd.gov.in/citywx/city_weather.php?id=42181 https://city.imd.gov.in/citywx/city_weather.php?id=42181

eklavya 4y ago
I don't know, definitely feels hotter this summer compared to the last two.
hnbad 4y ago
49C is hot, even if India has seen hotter temperatures. Heat must also be seen in combination with humidity, i.e. Wet Bulb Temperature[0]. Note that the human limit for WBT is extremely low when compared to dry heat (Wikipedia gives the theoretical limit as 35°C/95°F, equivalent to a heat index of 70°C/160°F) because this is the point where the human body is incapable of self-regulating body temperature because perspiration ceases to have any effect. If it really was 60°C inside, something like 15% relative humidity could have been enough to kill you without ventilation/isolation/cooling if you had been exposed to it long enough. The other problem that you seem to be missing is that the article states that this heatwave arrived very early, which means nobody was prepared for it and as the article also states, this could cause problems in agriculture which would compound on the existing shortages from Ukraine. This is as usual unlikely to cause direct problems for people living in most of Europe or North America but bad news for countries relying on Ukraine or India for food imports. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature
- samarthr1 4y ago
  Good thing we have about 4 years of reserves in godowns across India, and have banned exports then :)
  - hnbad 4y ago
    Good thing we used the IMF to make starving African countries self-sustaining and food secure instead of pressuring them to mass produce non-food crops for the international market then. Oh, wait.
iknownothow 4y ago
for anyone who thinks 49C in Delhi is some extreme temperature it's not really that far from usual maximum (2019 and 2020 both May max. 46C). That's a 3C increase! Sure that's only a 6.5% increase in temperature w.r.t. to 46C but that's an incorrect way of looking at it. If you were to set your air-conditioning to 32C, then the energy required to cool from 49C to 32C is 21% more than the energy required to cool from 46C to 32C. 32C is also the wet-bulb temperature, so when thinking about tolerability, at least use 32C as the baseline (and not 0C) when comparing temperatures. P.S. Humidity is a major factor. I'm assuming humidity is the same this year as it was the previous years. Edit: To clarify, my comment was about not giving into your insticts and underestimating the effects of 3C rise w.r.t. 46C. Thinking of 3C rise in terms of energy increase or comparing it to a baseline of wet-bulb temperature give you better intuitions.
- makomk 4y ago
  Pretty sure that's well within the bounds of normal variation we'd expect between different locations within a major city. There's all kinds of weird microclimates in most cities, you really do have to compare like with like here - it's entirely likely that there were actually higher temperatures in Delhi in the past and there just weren't automated weather stations in those locations at the time.
  - jsjohnst 4y ago
    > it's entirely likely that there were actually higher temperatures in Delhi in the past and there just weren't automated weather stations in those locations at the time Ok, great, so maybe at some point in the past there was a hotter temp. It’s amazing how rather than focusing on the miserable experience nearly 50° weather is for those there, we get into a weird measuring fetish over who’s number is biggest.
  - thaway2839 4y ago
    Except the 49C here is not a weird microclimate of some small part of New Delhi, but rather is the average temp across the city. Which means that places with weird microclimates that were 49C when the overall temp was 46C are now 52C and above.
Narretz 4y ago
It's a big difference if it's already 45+ in March when it's usually only 45+ starting in May.
imtringued 4y ago
I'm not sure how true this is but I noticed that 1.1°C of warming has raised maximum temperatures by 4°C in Germany. Yes those 4°C aren't there all year but you do notice them.

eklavya 4y ago

I don't know, definitely feels hotter this summer compared to the last two.

hnbad 4y ago

49C is hot, even if India has seen hotter temperatures. Heat must also be seen in combination with humidity, i.e. Wet Bulb Temperature[0]. Note that the human limit for WBT is extremely low when compared to dry heat (Wikipedia gives the theoretical limit as 35°C/95°F, equivalent to a heat index of 70°C/160°F) because this is the point where the human body is incapable of self-regulating body temperature because perspiration ceases to have any effect. If it really was 60°C inside, something like 15% relative humidity could have been enough to kill you without ventilation/isolation/cooling if you had been exposed to it long enough. The other problem that you seem to be missing is that the article states that this heatwave arrived very early, which means nobody was prepared for it and as the article also states, this could cause problems in agriculture which would compound on the existing shortages from Ukraine. This is as usual unlikely to cause direct problems for people living in most of Europe or North America but bad news for countries relying on Ukraine or India for food imports. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature

samarthr1 4y ago
Good thing we have about 4 years of reserves in godowns across India, and have banned exports then :)
- hnbad 4y ago
  Good thing we used the IMF to make starving African countries self-sustaining and food secure instead of pressuring them to mass produce non-food crops for the international market then. Oh, wait.

iknownothow 4y ago

for anyone who thinks 49C in Delhi is some extreme temperature it's not really that far from usual maximum (2019 and 2020 both May max. 46C). That's a 3C increase! Sure that's only a 6.5% increase in temperature w.r.t. to 46C but that's an incorrect way of looking at it. If you were to set your air-conditioning to 32C, then the energy required to cool from 49C to 32C is 21% more than the energy required to cool from 46C to 32C. 32C is also the wet-bulb temperature, so when thinking about tolerability, at least use 32C as the baseline (and not 0C) when comparing temperatures. P.S. Humidity is a major factor. I'm assuming humidity is the same this year as it was the previous years. Edit: To clarify, my comment was about not giving into your insticts and underestimating the effects of 3C rise w.r.t. 46C. Thinking of 3C rise in terms of energy increase or comparing it to a baseline of wet-bulb temperature give you better intuitions.

makomk 4y ago
Pretty sure that's well within the bounds of normal variation we'd expect between different locations within a major city. There's all kinds of weird microclimates in most cities, you really do have to compare like with like here - it's entirely likely that there were actually higher temperatures in Delhi in the past and there just weren't automated weather stations in those locations at the time.
- jsjohnst 4y ago
  > it's entirely likely that there were actually higher temperatures in Delhi in the past and there just weren't automated weather stations in those locations at the time Ok, great, so maybe at some point in the past there was a hotter temp. It’s amazing how rather than focusing on the miserable experience nearly 50° weather is for those there, we get into a weird measuring fetish over who’s number is biggest.
- thaway2839 4y ago
  Except the 49C here is not a weird microclimate of some small part of New Delhi, but rather is the average temp across the city. Which means that places with weird microclimates that were 49C when the overall temp was 46C are now 52C and above.

Narretz 4y ago

It's a big difference if it's already 45+ in March when it's usually only 45+ starting in May.

imtringued 4y ago

I'm not sure how true this is but I noticed that 1.1°C of warming has raised maximum temperatures by 4°C in Germany. Yes those 4°C aren't there all year but you do notice them.