2023 2nd warmest year in India after 2016: Jan forecast 'normal'

Last year was the second-warmest on record for India since 1901, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday, and predicted the month of January will unlikely have very harsh winter conditions for most parts of the country.

- Jayashree Nandi

Last year was the second-warmest on record for India since 1901, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday, and predicted the month of January will unlikely have very harsh winter conditions for most parts of the country.

The annual mean land surface air temperature over India averaged 0.65°C above the long-term average for 1981 to 2010 period, slightly lower from the 0.71°C recorded in 2016.

The readings tie in with multiple indicators from around the world-such as sea surface temperatures that showed 2023 to be one of the warmest ever, in major part due to the El Nino effect.

El Nino is a cyclical warming of the equatorial pacific, which leads to a cascading impact around the world, including sapping the intensity of the monsoon rains in India after it sets in.

The warmest year of 2016 too was an El Nino year.

For the coming month, the IMD projected that minimum temperatures the coldest that nights will get are likely to be above normal over many parts of the country, except some parts of north India where normal to below normal minimum temperatures are likely.

Monthly maximum, or daytime, temperatures for January is likely to be below normal over many parts of the central and northwest India while being above normal for most parts of Peninsular and northeast India, the IMD projected.