'Climate change more robust now'

LA NIÑA MAY NOT BE EFFECTIVE IN WARMER FUTURE: SCIENTISTS

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Climate change is growing stronger and more robust, and the cooling counter effects of La Niña may not be effective in a warmer future, climate scientists said, assessing current heat trends seen in large parts of the country.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted an early summer this year, with above-normal temperatures and intense, long heatwave spells.

The country experienced its warmest February since 1901, with the fifth lowest rainfall since 2001, it said.

While human-caused climate change is increasingly driving a 'new normal' marked by a warmer winter and shorter spring, scientists also draw attention to the yearly changes in weather patterns, termed 'year-to-year variability'.

"For example, updates from the IMD this year suggest that it was an unusually dry winter," Arpita Mondal, associate professor at the Centre for Climate Studies at IIT Bombay, said.

She explained that rain is a natural cooling process that helps bring temperatures down.

Raghu Murtugudde, an earth system scientist and professor at IIT Bombay, said, "I see a global wave of warm and cold temperature anomalies (deviations from expected patterns) during Dec-Feb that are related to the swings of jet streams."