Hundreds of deaths have been attributed to heatwave that saw temperatures approaching 50C in Delhi
The unprecedented heatwaves that scorched northern and central India in May were made 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter by the climate crisis, a new scientific assessment has found.
In the last week of May, India experienced a spell of severe heatwaves, with 37 cities recording temperatures above 45C, prompting warnings of heatstroke. The capital Delhi saw a record temperature of 49.1C.
The heatwaves led to hundreds of deaths, including one voter and several workers conducting the mammoth national election, which ended after six weeks on 1 June.
The heatwaves were nearly 1.5C warmer than the hottest heatwaves the country had seen previously despite occurring later in the typical summer season, according to a report published by ClimaMeter, a research project funded by the European Union and the French National Centre for Scientific Research, or CNRS.
The study found that the heatwaves were “a largely unique event whose characteristics can mostly be ascribed to human driven climate change”.
This May was the hottest ever on record globally, completing an entire year of record-breaking extreme heat for the planet.
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