‘State of The Climate Report’: In 2023, on an average, 6 deaths a day in India due to climate-linked disasters 

“There were 1,280 deaths due to thunderstorms and lightning; 880 deaths due to heavy rainfall and floods; and 160 heat wave fatalities in the country last year, says an international report.”

Nidhi Jamwal*

The State of the Climate 2023 report is out confirming the worst fears. Global temperatures reached record highs on land and in the ocean last year. Greenhouse gas concentrations, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which contribute to global warming, were also at an all-time high, according to the international report.

South Asia experienced above-normal temperatures in 2023. The annual mean land surface air temperature averaged over India was 0.65°C above the 1981–2010 average, making it the second-warmest year on record since nationwide records commenced in 1901, according to the new report released on August 22.

According to the report, “in recent years in India, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning strikes have been among the most common causes of fatalities.” In 2023, thunderstorms and lightning claimed around 1,280 lives across the country. On just one day, 4 July 2023, approximately 43 people died due to lightning strikes associated with a severe thunderstorm that occurred in parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

Another 880 people died due to heavy rainfall and floods, and there were 160 fatalities due to heat waves in the country last year. This adds up to 2,320 deaths in 2023, due to climate-linked disasters in the country, which comes to an average of more than six deaths a day.

The State of the Climate 2023 is an international annual review of the world’s climate, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 

The peer-reviewed publication released each summer is based on contributions from nearly 600 scientists across 60 countries. It provides the most comprehensive update on Earth’s climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice and in space. The recent report is the 34th issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate, first published in 1996.

The State of the Climate 2023 is divided into various sections — Global Climate, Global Oceans, The Tropics, The Arctic, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and Regional Climates. It is an authoritative annual summary of the global climate published as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

“This report documents and shares a startling, but well-established picture: We are experiencing a warming world as I speak, and the indicators and impacts are seen throughout the planet. The report is another signpost to current and future generations,” said Derek Arndt, Director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, during the launch of the report.

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Key Findings of the State of the Climate Report 2023

1. The year 2023 was the warmest year since records began to be recorded in the mid-to-late 1800s, surpassing the previous record in 2016. Also, the last nine years (2015–2023) were the nine warmest on record.
2. Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations were the highest on record. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide ⁠— the Earth’s major atmospheric greenhouse gases⁠ — once again reached record-high concentrations in 2023 (see image).

https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/international-report-confirms-record-high-global-temperatures-greenhouse-gases-in-2023"/>

3. El Niño conditions contributed to record-high sea surface temperatures. The mean annual global sea-surface temperature in 2023 was a record high, surpassing the previous record of 2016 by 0.13 of a degree C. Each month from June to December was record-warm.
4. Ocean heat and global sea levels were the highest on record. Over the past half-century, the ocean has stored more than 90 percent of the excess energy trapped in Earth’s system by greenhouse gases and other factors. The global ocean heat content, measured from the ocean’s surface to a depth of 2,000 metres, continued to increase and reached new record highs in 2023.
5. Heatwaves and droughts contributed to massive wildfires around the world and millions of people were evacuated.
6. The Arctic had its fourth-warmest year in the 124-year record, with summer (July to September) being record warm. The amount of multiyear ice — ice that survives at least one summer melt season in the Arctic — continued to decline. Since 2012, the Arctic has been nearly devoid of ice that is more than four years old.
7. The Antarctic sea ice set record lows throughout 2023. On February 21, 2023, Antarctic sea ice extent and sea ice area both reached all-time record lows, surpassing the previous record lows that were set just a year earlier in February 2022.

India Specific Findings

2023 was the second-warmest year on record since nationwide records commenced in India in 1901 (see graph). The country-averaged seasonal mean temperatures were above normal for all seasons except the pre-monsoon season. Overall, the five warmest years on record in order are 2016 (anomaly of +0.71°C), 2023 (+0.65°C), 2009 (+0.55°C), 2017 (+0.54°C), and 2010 (+0.54°C).

https://ametsoc.net/sotc2023/SoCin2023_Ch7_Regional%20Climates.pdf "/>

Whereas the state governments did not acknowledge heatwave-related deaths, the State of the Climate report says that a heatwave in June 2023 claimed more than 160 lives in various parts of India. “More than 85 lives were lost in the adversely affected state of Uttar Pradesh, along with 45 in Odisha, 25 in Jharkhand, and the remaining in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh,” reads the report.

During 2023, the summer monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall averaged over India was 95% of its long-term average (LTA), which is slightly ‘below normal’. On a monthly scale, rainfall for the country as a whole was above normal during July and September (both 113% of LTA) and below normal during June and August (91% and 64% of LTA, respectively).

For August, country-wide rainfall was 162.7 mm, the lowest on record since 1901.

During the winter season (January–February), rainfall in India was below normal (55% of its LTA). However, it was above normal (113%) during the pre-monsoon season (March-May) and below normal again (91%) during the post-monsoon season (October–December).

With 1,280 deaths, thunderstorms and lightning claimed the maximum lives in 2023, followed by heavy rainfall, floods (880), and heatwaves (160).

The State of the Climate report points out that of the 880 rainfall-related deaths, more than 130 lives were lost in Madhya Pradesh, more than 120 in Himachal Pradesh, and more than 100 in Sikkim (mainly due to cloudburst and flooding in the Teesta basin due to a glacial lake burst flood on 4 October, 2023).

Additionally, 81 lives were lost in Uttar Pradesh, along with 75 in Uttarakhand, 71 in Maharashtra, and 56 in Rajasthan, with the remaining fatalities occurring in other states of India.

Landslides, triggered-due to heavy rainfall, also killed several people. A massive landslide occurred on 19 July 2023 in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, claiming 84 lives. On 14 August, a landslide in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh resulted in 25 fatalities.

*Nidhi Jamwal is a Mumbai-based journalist who reports on climate, environment, and rural issues and tweets @jamwalNidhi.

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