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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
IMD official explains that climate change is a long period pattern
NEW DELHI: As Delhi witnessed an unusual start to the summer season, with rains lashing the region with mist-covered mornings to wake up to, talk of the effects of climate change gained ground.
However, if the experts at the meteorological department are to be believed, the unusual summer is more due to climate variability than climate change.
Talking to The New Indian, Soma Sen Roy, a meteorologist at the India Meteorological Department, said, “What we are now experiencing is climate variability, not climate change. Climate change is a long-term pattern. This is only this year that we are getting hailstorms and thunderstorms throughout the Indian region.”
“Last year it was the exact opposite and India did not get any thunderstorm activity anywhere over North India till March or April. It was only around mid-May that we saw the typical pre-monsoon features. So, every year it is different and that is part of general climate variability,” she explained.
However, before we jump out with joy about the effects of climate change, Sen Roy suggested that climate change is real and one should not be immune to it.
“Even if what is happening right now is just climate variability, the effect of climate change can be seen over the eastern coast,” she said.
“IMD has said that there is an increasing trend in rainfall over the west coast, i.e., Goa and Gujarat. It was also said that there is a decreasing trend in rainfall over northeastern states like Nagaland and Manipur. This is climate change,” she explained.
“What we are seeing in north India and central India at present is climate variability, not change,” Sen Roy reiterated.
