Rising temperature

IMD's 2023 report is a wake-up call

The new year brought a grim retrospect from the India Meteorological Department (IMD): 2023 was the second-warmest year on record since 1901. The annual average surface temperature of the landmass, the IMD said, was 0.65 degrees Celsius above the long-term average; only 2016, with an annual mean of 0.71 degrees, was warmer. Erratic weather is the other story: February, July, August, September, November, and December saw either above-normal maximum or minimum temperatures with respect to the seasons, the IMD said. Extreme variability was evident in rainfall patterns. For example, December was an exceptionally wet month (except the north and Northeast),