Freaky Weather ; India Is Witnessing Soaring Temperatures, Hotter Summers and Shorter Winters. Is This the Shape of Things to Come?

India Today › November 07, 2006

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Summary

Carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere is held as one of the primary reasons for glaciers melting but it could also be wreaking havoc with the climate. The projected rate of warming is much higher than the observed changes in the 20th century and is likely to be without a precedent in the last 10,000 years.

In An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary on the Earth's climate crisis, former US vice-president Al Gore had warned of a warmer, wetter globe this century. He was serious-2005 was the warmest year on record and while New Orleans was flattened by a hurricane, Mumbai was inundated by record rainfall. This year, too, hasn't been without surprises. Rajasthan's arid Barmer district was deluged by rainfall, the west coast of India north of Goa saw heavy rains while the North-east was rain deficient. Then there was the puzzling phenomenon of a cyclone north of Andhra Pradesh crossing over and emerging in the Arabian Sea.