Heat Waves

Climate change drives rise of 'coolcations' as tourists flee heatwaves

Heatwaves forced closures of sites like the Acropolis and Eiffel Tower, with Europe facing a growing tourism divide as climate change impacts north and south differently

Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia

Floods that damaged hydropower dams in Nepal and destroyed the main bridge connecting the country to China show the vulnerability of infrastructure and need for smart rebuilding in a region bearing the brunt of a warming planet, experts say. The flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on July 8 also killed nine people and damaged an inland container depot that was being built to support increasing trade between the two countries. The 10 damaged hydropower facilities, including three under construction, have a combined capacity that could power 600,000 South Asian homes. Another smaller flood in the area on July 30 damaged roads and structures, but caused less overall destruction. Nepal's location in the Himalayan mountains makes it especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because the area is warming up faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Climate experts say the increasing frequency of extreme weather has changed the playbook for assessin

Fossil fuel combustion caused 1,500 deaths in European heat wave: Study

Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it had not been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century, said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people

How India's hottest region survives extreme summer heat each year

It's 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), and it's only 10 a.m. Welcome to Sri Ganganagar

UK heat wave could claim nearly 600 lives this week, scientists warn

Saturday is expected to be the deadliest day, with an estimate of 266 heat-related deaths, nearly half of which could be recorded in London, according to the researchers

Delhi among these 8 Indian cities to face double the heatwaves by 2030 | Climate change | Mumbai

Delhi continues to sizzle as the city remains in the grip of an intense heatwave. A new report says that Delhi is among 8 Indian cities that will witness a two-fold increase in heatwave days by 2030.

May 2025 was world's second-hottest on record, says EU climate agency

Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels, C3S said

Delhi records hottest day of year as temp crosses 45°C, AQI remains 'poor'

Delhi struggles with intense heatwave as temperatures rise, air quality remains in the 'poor' category

Experiencing dry, tired eyes this summer? Here's how to keep them fresh

From UV rays and dust to screen overload, summer in India can be tough on your eyes. Here's a doctor-backed guide for young professionals to keep their eyes safe

3/4th of India's population at 'high' to 'very high' heat risk: CEEW

About 57 per cent of Indian districts, home to 76 per cent of India's total population, are currently at 'high' to 'very high' heat risk, according to a new study. According to the study published on Tuesday by Delhi-based climate and energy think-tank Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW), the 10 states and union territories with the highest heat risk include Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It also found that the number of very warm nights has increased faster than that of very hot days in the last decade. Very warm nights and very hot days are defined as periods when minimum and maximum temperatures rise above the 95th percentile threshold, i.e., what was normal for 95 per cent of the time in the past. As part of the study, CEEW researchers developed a Heat Risk Index (HRI) for 734 districts, using 40 years of climate data (1982-2022) and satellite images to study heat trends, land use, wa

Samsung targets 10% market share in India's room air conditioner segment

Appliances and Consumer Electronics major Samsung India has doubled its sales in the fast growing room-air conditioner segment and has cornered 10 per cent market share in the March quarter of 2025, said a company official. The company, which has made a comeback in the room-air conditioner segment, has launched 19 models under its BESPOKE AI WindFree air conditioner series, featuring advanced AI technology for personalised cooling experiences. "There has been robust growth in this quarter and we are growing by 2X. In fact our internal estimate says that we will be 10 per cent of the market in Q1, which is almost double from last year's same quarter. "We are confident that we are going to lead the growth in the industry, and with better growth we will have good market share," said Samsung India Vice President, Digital Appliances Business Ghufran Alam. The company estimates the room-air conditioner industry to grow 20 to 25 per cent this year, and Samsung is ahead of that, leading th

Indian cities brace for heatwaves but lack long-term planning, study finds

The study examined how nine major Indian cities-Bengaluru, Delhi, Faridabad, Gwalior, Kota, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mumbai, and Surat-are preparing for increasing heatwaves

India most likely undercounting heat-related deaths: Ex-WHO chief scientist

India is "most likely" undercounting heat-related deaths due to a lack of robust data, but the government is now improving surveillance to minimise the impact of extreme conditions on health, former WHO chief scientist and health ministry advisor Soumya Swaminathan has said. In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of TERI's World Sustainable Development Summit, she also stressed the urgent need for better tracking, preparedness and policy interventions as the country braces for another extreme summer. Asked if India was undercounting heat-related deaths, the former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, "Most likely. We do not really have a good record of every death in the country and so we have to make some estimations. We have to do some sort of calculations or modelling based on what is happening." But recently, there have been several scientific papers that have actually tracked what are called excess deaths, Swaminathan said. "When you look

Earth records hottest year ever in 2024, big jump breached key threshold

Earth recorded its hottest year ever in 2024, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold, several weather monitoring agencies announced Friday. Last year's global average temperature easily passed 2023's record heat and kept pushing even higher. It surpassed the long-term warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) since the late 1800s that was called for by the 2015 Paris climate pact, according to the European Commission's Copernicus Climate Service, the United Kingdom's Meteorology Office and Japan's weather agency. The European team calculated 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.89 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. Japan found 1.57 degrees Celsius (2.83 degrees Fahrenheit) and the British 1.53 degrees Celsius (2.75 degrees Fahrenheit) in releases of data coordinated to early Friday morning European time. American monitoring teams NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the private Berkeley Earth were to release .

Climate change led to 41 additional days of extreme heat in 2024: Report

The world experienced an average of 41 more days of extreme heat in 2024 due to climate change, a new report said on Friday. According to the European climate agency Copernicus, 2024 is set to end as the warmest year on record and the first year with a global average temperature 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. A yearly review report by two groups of climate scientists -- World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central -- said the world saw an average of 41 more days of dangerous heat in 2024. Small island developing states were hit the hardest, with their people experiencing over 130 additional hot days. The scientists identified 219 extreme weather events in 2024 and studied 29 of them. They found that climate change contributed to at least 3,700 deaths and displaced millions in 26 extreme weather events. "It is likely the total number of people killed in extreme weather events intensified by climate change this year is in the tens or hundreds of thousands,"

Man accused of starting California wildfire by throwing firework from car

A 26-year-old man has been accused of igniting a destructive California wildfire in early July by throwing a firework from a car window during hot, dry and windy weather. Spencer Grant Anderson, of Oroville, was charged Monday after weeks of continuous surveillance by investigators, the Butte County District Attorney's Office said. The Thompson fire scorched nearly 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometres), destroyed 13 homes and damaged others in the Oroville area of the northern Sacramento Valley. Anderson was jailed on a no-bail hold after appearing in court to face charges including arson of an inhabited structure, arson of forest land, and arson causing multiple structures to burn, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. Anderson will return to court Wednesday to set further dates to enter a plea and for pretrial hearings, the office said. It was a long investigation, there was a lot moving parts to it, Larry Pilgrim, Anderson's attorney, told The New York Times. He is jus

Spandana Sphoorty stops onboarding customers with no prior credit history

Heat wave, Lok Sabha polls hit collections, asset quality in Q1

UN urges nations to better prepare as extreme heat breaks records

After three of Earth's hottest days ever measured, the United Nations called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it an extreme heat epidemic. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it's that we're all increasingly feeling the heat, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday at a news conference where he highlighted that Monday was the hottest day on record, surpassing the mark set just a day earlier. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere. Nearly half a million people a year die worldwide from heat related deaths, far more than other weather extremes such as hurricanes, and this is likely an underestimate, a new report by 10 U.N. agencies said. Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic -- wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world," Guterres said. "That's 122 degrees Fahrenhei

Delhi records minimum temp of 32.4 deg C, heatwave conditions to persist

The national capital on Saturday recorded a minimum temperature of 32.4 degree Celsius, four notches above the season's average, according to the India Meteorological Department. The weather department has predicted mainly clear sky and heat wave conditions with strong surface winds during the day. The humidity was 38 per cent at 8.30 am. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 44 degrees Celsius, it stated. The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the national capital was recorded in the "moderate" category with a reading of 185 at 9 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

Curtains to ventilation: How to protect your home in extreme heat

Furnishing and wall colours will add to the comfort of living in summers