Last month was sixth warmest July since 1901: Report

Last month was the sixth warmest July in India since 1901, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday, citing data from the India Meteorological Department in Pune.

The mean temperature in July this year was 28.52 degrees Celsius, which is 0.55 degrees above normal, according to the newspaper. Mean temperature is the average of maximum and minimum temperatures for a month.

July 2019 was the warmest July on record, the Hindustan Times reported. The mean temperature for the month was 28.65 degrees Celsius. It was 0.68 degrees above normal. The second warmest July was in 2015, the third in 1987, fourth in 2014 and fifth in 2020.

OP Sreejith, head of the climate monitoring and prediction group at the India Meteorological Department in Pune, told the Hindustan Times that high maximum and minimum temperatures in July this year was linked to rain deficit.

In July, there was a 7% rain deficit across the country. In East and North East India, the rain deficiency was 26%. North West and Central India recorded a 7% deficiency, while peninsular India witnessed 27% excess rain, according to the Hindustan Times.

An unidentified senior official from the India Meteorological Department told the newspaper that climate crisis and many other factors were responsible for the record temperature in July.

“Temperatures were high because clouding was less in the first half of July,” the official added. “Rain picked up in southern parts of the country in July.”

Mahesh Palawat, an official from private weather forecasting company Skymet, said that early in July, heatwave conditions prevailed over several parts of North West India.

“The minimum temperature was high from the beginning,” he said. “Heatwave conditions were reported from Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi NCR [National Capital Region]. Rainfall was less due to break monsoon, so temperatures soared.”