Heatwaves Getting Worse In India? More BBC Lies
By Paul Homewood
The BBC says heatwaves are getting more intense in India:
An intense heatwave is sweeping through northern India with temperatures hitting a record 49.2C (120.5F) in parts of the capital, Delhi.
Summers have always been gruelling in many parts of India – especially in the northern and central regions. Even before air-conditioners and water coolers started selling in the millions, people had devised their own ways of coping with the heat – from keeping water cool in earthen jugs to rubbing raw mangoes on their bodies to ward off heat strokes.
But many experts say India is now recording more intense, frequent heatwaves.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, agrees that several atmospheric factors have led to the current heatwave. But adding to all that, he says, is global warming.
"That’s the root cause for the increase in heatwaves," he says, adding that more research is needed to link climate change to other, less extreme weather fluctuations.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61242341
Except that the facts don’t support this, in Delhi at least:
There is only complete data since 1973, but even this shows there has only been one day since 2000 when temperatures reached 46C in New Delhi, in stark contrast to the 1940s and 1990s.
https://climexp.knmi.nl/data/xgdcnIN022021900.dat
These temperatures are recorded at a site called Safdarjun on the edge of the city, near the airport, well away from the built up area.
The record of 47.2C was set there on 28th May 1944. (Wikipedia gives a record for New Delhi of 48.4C, set at the International Airport on 26th May 1998. a few miles away; on that day, Safjardun recorded 46.2C, which I guess says a lot about UHI at the airport.
The BBC is talking about temperatures hitting a record 49.2C (120.5F) in parts of Delhi. We await to see what Safdarjun recorded, but I strongly suspect that these “parts of Delhi” are highly affected by UHI, and therefore meaningless.
By the way, we should ignore any claim that May is early to see such heatwaves. It is actually May and early June when temperatures peak in Delhi. Once the monsoon arrives in June, temperatures decline.
Whether there is a new record set this week or not, it is clear that this is not part of any trend.
FOOTNOTE
According to Weather Underground, the temperatures at Safdarjun peaked this week at 114F, 45.6C
In other words, it did not even hit the 46C threshold:
https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/in/new-delhi/VIDD
Shame on the BBC for publishing this disinformation.
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
“But adding to all that, he says, is global warming.” That is a code word for man-made CO2. But the solution to the problem is even worse than the “disease”. How can anything of significance be transported anywhere without oil and the fuels it has provided? No more research is needed to understand that zero emissions by 2050 is the wrong thing to require during a transition to renewables.
Did you hear it on the BBC or did Justin Rowlatt tell you?
Forget thermometers.
It is how you FEEL that determines whether it is “unprecedented”! (And how much you get paid for lying, of course…)
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist “……..adding to all that, he says, is global warming, He says, adding that more research is needed to link climate change to other, less extreme weather fluctuations” and always the cry more study (money) troughers never miss an opening!!
It is worth noting that Delhi has grown massively in the last 25 years and the UHI must be increasing too. So even less “Climate change” is happening unless the UHI is a climate factor.
If India gets warmer within the bounds of general expectation, then there will likely be a net decline in temperature-related mortality.
“Mortality attributable to hot and cold ambient temperatures in India: a nationally representative case-crossover study”
Each year in India, approx 48K die from extreme cold plus 584K from moderate cold, whereas approx 25K die from extreme heat plus 64K from moderate heat.
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002619.t002
Also in France
https://www.france24.com/en/environment/20220511-france-s-unprecedented-drought-shows-climate-change-is-spiralling-out-of-control
Been in SW France for 4 weeks. I was worried before going out that our pipes might have burst as we’d run out of heating gas and there was a week of very cold nights (below freezing). First week we were here it was cold and rained all the time. This last week has been hot but not record-breaking. First week vines and other crops were behind schedule thanks to late frosts, now growing well. Last summer was wet and cold, previous autumn very wet. Its variable, that’s all.
New Delhi was over 40deg c, when I was there, July 1999, which was fine except it was at night as well and nearly 100% humidity. So normal then.
Was in Brittany a week ago, all the cereal crops looked incredibly healthy, way ahead of here in the UK. The week before in the Pyrenees there was so much snow the reservoirs in Spain were filling nicely and indeed the French side was similarly snowy. So some biased reporting?0
heatwave doesnt seem to be affecting the crowds at the IPL cricket games around India.
So the heat has “weather” explanations but its still climate change…
And their evidence for thst is non-existant. But it is.
The site OGIMET publishes all the official data from World Meteorological Sites and lists two sites in Delhi – Safdarjung (the site you list) and the other is Palam. Data on the site is only up to date for the 14th. A separate site http://www.WeatherOnline.co.Uk lists maxima for these two stations for 15th May (the peak of the heatwave) but only to the nearest whole degree. Both stations are shown with a maximum of 46c. This falls short of any record. The 49 the BBC quotes may well be an unofficial station
Or a bare faces lie, of course.