MAY 16, 2022
By Paul Homewood
The BBC reports that heat waves are becoming more intense in India:
An intense heatwave is sweeping northern India with temperatures hitting a record 49.2 degrees Celsius (120.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the capital, Delhi.
Summer is always long in many parts of India – especially in the north and central regions. Even before air conditioners and water coolers started selling for millions of dollars, people were thinking of ways to deal with the heat — from keeping water cool in clay pots to rubbing raw mangoes on their bodies. to avoid heat stroke.
But many experts say India is now recording more intense, more frequent heat waves.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, agrees that several atmospheric factors have led to the current heat wave. But adding to all of that, he said, is global warming.
That is the root cause of the increase in heat waves, he said, adding that more research is needed to link climate change to other, less severe weather variations. harsher.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61242341
Except facts do not support this, at least in Delhi:
There is only complete data since 1973, but even this shows there has been only one day since 2000 when temperatures hit 46 degrees Celsius in New Delhi, in stark contrast to the 1940s and 1990s.
https://climexp.knmi.nl/data/xgdcnIN022021900.dat
These temperatures were recorded at a site called Safdarjun on the edge of the city, near the airport, away from crowded areas.
A record of 47.2C was set there on May 28, 1944. (Wikipedia gives New Delhi a record of 48.4C, set at the airport on May 26, 1998; on that date, Safjardun scored 46.2C, which I guess says a lot about UHI at the airport.
BBC is talking about temperatures hitting a record 49.2C (120.5F) in parts of Delhi. We’re waiting to see what Safdarjun has recorded, but I strongly suspect that these “parts of Delhi” are heavily influenced by UHI, and therefore pointless.
By the way, we should ignore any claims that May is early to witness such heatwaves. In fact it is May and early June when the temperature is highest in Delhi. When the monsoon comes in June, the temperature will drop.
Whether a new record is set this week or not, this is clearly not part of any trend.
FOOT
According to Weather Underground, the temperature in Safdarjun peaked this week at 114F, 45.6C
In other words, it didn’t even hit the 46C threshold:
https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/in/new-delhi/VIDD
Shame on the BBC for publishing this misinformation.
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