Experts say that the extreme weather conditions Tamil Nadu has been witnessing for some time now – rising maximum temperature, cyclones or extreme rainfall – are a result of climate change. Since the severe Chennai floods in December 2015, the city has had several extreme weather conditions. A few months ago, in November 2021, the whole city of Chennai was waterlogged with heavy rains, which even claimed 14 lives. Flagging the human fingerprint, environmentalists and weather experts point to the loss of green cover, pollution, and poor maintenance of water bodies as major reasons that have contributed to climate change. As per the data with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 2021 was the fifth warmest year since 1901, since the nationwide recording started. With the onset of summer, Chennai recorded the highest maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius on 22 March. The highest recorded temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius was reported on 31March, 2021. The rise in maximum temperature in March marked an early onset this year. Environmentalists say that climate change seems to play a major role in increased maximum temperatures over years. The highest maximum temperature in the past in March is about 40.6 degrees Celsius in 1953. The maximum temperature in March remained around 35-36 degrees Celsius for the past ten years and it remained 34.4 degrees Celsius in 2020. “Climate change has led to warming of the Earth, which leads to certain weather conditions such as the shift of moisture, rise in temperature, unpredicted rainfall, and other climatic variations. The onset of summer saw about 38 degrees Celsius a few days ago and now it has dropped to 34 degrees Celsius. Such variations in the temperature are a result of climate change,” said S Balachandran, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. The rainfall is having high temporal and spatial variability due to the impact of climate changes. There are significant changes in the mean rainfall pattern and their variability as well as in the intensity and frequencies of extreme rainfall events in the state. “The annual rainfall received in 2021 was about 105 per cent of its long period average for a period of 50 years between 1961 and 2010. India Meteorological Department recorded Tamil Nadu as one of the states that saw extremely wet-severely wet conditions in 2021. There is an increase in the frequency of extremely severe cyclonic disturbances over Arabian sea and cyclonic formations in the Indian Ocean,” says Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, IMD.
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Chennai’s annual rainfall in 2021 was about 105 per cent of its long period average for a period of 50 years
