Bad air to unseasonal rain: It is time to look up and heed the warnings

The time has come to look around and induce climate action in decision-making

The seaside financial capital of India logged its highest ever October temperature last week. Accustomed to a gentle breeze this time of the year, the city sweated in a heatwave created by high levels of humidity. As monsoon withdrawal was delayed, the warm sea and surface caused an anticyclonic impact on wind movement.

The result was brown dust and smog covering Mumbai — an image usually associated with Delhi. Not that Delhi is having an easy time. The landlocked political capital drowned under unseasonal rains, well before the monsoon, as its poor infrastructure came under pressure from the bulging Yamuna.