‘Increasing concretisation and humidity worsening heat stress in India’s megacities’

Green cover decline in megacities ineffective at mitigating nighttime heat

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Increasing concretisation and humidity levels are exacerbating heat stress in India's megacities, which are not cooling down at night at the same rate as a decade ago, according to a new report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The CSE analysed summer air temperature, land surface temperature, and relative humidity data for six megacities Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai from January 2001 to April 2024. The think tank found that increased humidity is worsening heat stress across all climate zones, even nullifying the marginal drop in air temperatures in Delhi and Hyderabad.