Hot, wet and stormy, that was India in 2019 climatically. Data compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reveals that the year gone by was one of extremes. While the summer exceptionally severe, the monsoon was extremely damp.
The annual mean surface air temperature averaged over the country was +0.36degree C. In records since 1901, 2019 was ranked as the seventh warmest year. The hottest on record was 2016 when the mean temperature was +0.71degree C.
The pre-monsoon and monsoon season had a temperature anomaly of +0.39degree C and +0.58degree C, which contributed to the warming. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, globally the mean surface temperature anomaly during 2019 ( January -October ) was +1.1 degree C.
It has also been one of the wettest years on record, with annual rainfall over the country as a whole being 109 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). The monsoon precipitation, which is calculated as the rainfall from June to September, was 110 per cent of the LPA while the rainfall during the northeast monsoon period form October to December was 109 per cent of the LPA.
There is a changing pattern in the formation of cyclonic storms too, with most of them forming over the Bay of Bengal. In 2019, however, eight cyclonic storms formed over the Indian seas, five in the Arabian Sea against the normal of one per year. In fact, 2019 has equaled the record of 1902 with regard to having the largest number of storms in the Arabian Sea ever since records began being kept. “This year also witnessed development of more intense cyclones over the Arabian Sea,'' says a statement from the IMD.
Although winter records have not yet been tabulated yet, the chill of December has broken several records already. On December 30, Delhi recorded its coldest day since 1901, with the maximum temperature recorded at 9.4 degree C and the minimum 2.4 degree C. In its seasonal winter outlook, the IMD had announced in November 2019 that the period between December 2019 and February 2020 would see a warmer winter in the cold wave zone (north India). For December at least, those predictions went horribly wrong, with the northern plains experiencing one of the longest stretches of a cold spell, which included most of the month.
