Lightning Linked to Climate Change

Climate change impacts are transforming the already-terrifying phenomenon of lightning into a more deadly climate hazard than it was before. In this article, Athar Parvaiz casts light on a recent spike in deaths due to lightning in the country, along with suggesting probable mitigation tactics.

- Athar Parvaiz

Kills Thousands in India

It has been two months since a lightning strike killed four villagers in Budgam and Pulwama districts of Kashmir in two separate incidents—two of them were killed while herding their sheep in a pasture, while a young couple succumbed to the lightning strike in their farm. People in the Budgam village hit by these lethal strikes on May 6, 2023 were scared out of their skins as they “have never seen someone getting killed by lightning in and around their villages.”

As many as 2863 extreme weather events in J&K have killed 552 people, between 2010 and 2022, besides causing heavy damage to infrastructure and livestock, says a study ‘Extreme Weather Events induced mortalities in Jammu and Kashmir, India during 2010–2022’, published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.

Interestingly, out of the total extreme weather events, 1942 are the lightning events—forming the bulk of the overall extreme weather events—followed by 409 heavy rainfall events, 186 landslides, 168 flash floods, 48 heat waves, 42 heavy snowfall events, 37 cold waves, and 31 windstorms in the time period analysed in the study.

Mukhtar Ahmed, lead author of the aforementioned study, said that there has been an increase in extreme weather events, especially lightning, over the past two decades, which is seen as a manifestation of global warming and human-caused climate change.

Ahmed said that deaths due to extreme weather events have also increased over the years. He, however, added that despite the increase in extreme weather events, deaths due to heavy rain and snow have decreased, which is mainly attributed to better early warning, weather forecasts and improved disaster management. “Otherwise, such mortalities would have been manifold,” Ahmed said.