IMD says 2024 warmest year in India since 1901; China also heating up

The year 2024 was the warmest on record in India since 1901, with the average minimum temperature settling 0.90 degrees Celsius above the long-period average, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.

 

The annual mean temperature in 2024 was 25.75 degrees Celsius, 0.65 degrees above the long-period average, which too was highest since 1901. The average maximum temperature stood at 31.25 degrees Celsius, 0.20 degrees above normal, which was fourth-highest since 1901.

 

The average minimum temperature was 20.24 degrees Celsius, 0.90 degrees above normal, according to IMD Director General (DG) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.

 

The year 2024 surpassed 2016, which had recorded a mean land surface air temperature 0.54 degrees Celsius above normal, making it the warmest year since 1901.

 

The average minimum temperature was the highest on record for July, August, September, and October, and the second-highest for February, the IMD chief said. 

 

The Met department also said that average rainfall during January-March of 2025 over North India is most likely to be below normal (less than 86 per cent of the long-period average (LPA). This could have a bearing on the standing rabi crops as the moisture stress could aggravate.

 

However, contrary to earlier forecast, in January 2025, the monthly minimum temperatures are most likely to be above-normal over many parts of the country, except some parts of East, Northwest and West-Central India, where normal to below normal minimum temperatures are likely.

 

Also, above-normal cold-wave days are expected over western and northern parts of Central India during the month of January. This means that cold conditions could prevail in North India in January.

 

Meanwhile, on warm 2024, European climate agency Copernicus recently said that the year likely ended as the warmest year globally and the first with average temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels.

 

According to a yearly review by two independent groups of climate scientists — World Weather Attribution and Climate Central — the world experienced 41 additional days of dangerous heat in 2024.

 

Mohapatra said the rise in minimum temperatures in 2024 was “quite high”. “Long-term data shows most parts of the country are witnessing a rising trend in minimum temperatures, particularly in post-monsoon and winter seasons,” he said.

 

The IMD said La Nina conditions, characterised by cooler ocean surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean and usually associated with colder winters in North India, were expected to develop in January but would be short-lived. "It is unlikely to significantly impact the warming trend," an IMD scientist told PTI.

 

June 2023 marked the first instance of a monthly global temperature crossing the 1.5-degree threshold, a trend that persisted throughout the year, except for July 2024.

 

Under the Paris Agreement, a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree limit refers to sustained warming over 20-30 years. Experts warn that the world is now entering a phase during which temperatures will consistently exceed this threshold.

 

The global average temperature has already risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 baseline, driven by rapid accumulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.

   

China also getting hotter

 

Chinese meteorological data indicates that 2024 was the warmest year for the country since comparable records began over six decades ago. This marked the second consecutive year of record-breaking temperatures.

 

The national average temperature in China was 10.92 degrees Celsius (51.66 Fahrenheit) in 2024, over 1 degree higher than in 2023, according to weather.com.cn, a service portal run by the China Meteorological Administration.

 

The ten warmest years since records began in 1961 all occurred in the 21st century, the service portal said.

 

For Shanghai, China’s financial hub, 2024 was the warmest year since the Qing dynasty, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. 

India cut GDP emission intensity by 36% during 2005-2020: Report

 

India’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 fell by 7.93 per cent compared to 2019, while the emission intensity of its GDP declined 36 per cent between 2005 and 2020, according to data submitted to the UN climate change office. In its fourth Biennial Update Report  submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on December 30, India said its total greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use, land-use change, and forestry, or LULUCF) in 2020 were 2,959 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).