Question : India Meteorological Department has recently(January 2022) released “Statement on Climate of India during 2021”. Accordingly, which of the following option is correct ?
a. 2021 was the fifth warmest year in India
b. 2020 was the fifth warmest year in India
c. 2021 was the sixth warmest year in India
d. 2021 was the fourth warmest year in India
Ans. a.
Related facts —
- India Meteorological Department has recently(January 2022) released “Statement on Climate of India during 2021”.
- Key points of the report —
- The year 2021 was the fifth warmest year in India since nation-wide records commenced in the country in 1901.
- India had reported loss of 1,750 lives due to extreme weather events last year with Maharashtra being the most adversely affected state reporting 350 deaths.
- Lightning & thunderstorms(L&T) —
- L&T took the highest 787 lives followed by heavy rains, floods and landslides that caused deaths of 759 people.
- Cyclones —
- It caused 172 deaths in different states in 2021.
- Warming Phenomena —
- Eleven out of fifteen warmest years in the country were during the recent fifteen years (2007-2021) with highest warming being observed during 2016 when it was 0.71 degree Celsius above the long period average (LPA) based on 1981-2010 period.
- The AMLSAT averaged over India during 2021 was 0.44 degree C above the LPA.
- AMLSAT stands for — annual mean land surface air temperature.
- The all-India mean temperatures during the other two seasons such as pre-monsoon(March to May) and monsoon (June to September) were also “above normal” with anomalies of +0.35 degree C and +0.34 degree C, respectively.
- Rainfall —
- the 2021 annual rainfall over the country as a whole was 105% of its LPA based on the 1961-2010 period.
- The SW monsoon season rainfall over the country as a whole was ‘normal’ at 99% of its LPA whereas the NE/ post monsoon season (October-December) rainfall over the country as a whole was ‘above normal’ at 144% of LPA.
- Standardized Precipitation Index —
- It is notable that Standardized Precipitation Index(SPI) is negative for dry, and positive for wet conditions.
- The cumulative SPI values of the past twelve months of 2021 indicate “extremely wet – severely wet conditions” over parts of A & N Islands, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, East Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, Punjab, East Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat Region, Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Andhra Pradesh state, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, North Interior Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka and Kerala.
- While, “extremely dry – severely dry” conditions were observed over parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam & Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura, Sub Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, East Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Links:
https://internal.imd.gov.in/press_release/20220114_pr_1437.pdf