Climate change: ‘Three phases gone from cycle of seasons due to temp anomalies’

Unbridled deforestation, mining, rise in vehicles and their movement, and the use of air conditioners have disturbed the cycle of the seasons.

Consequently, three of the six seasons that we used to experience are nearly extinct, a new study by the Chandra Shekhar Azad University for Agriculture and Technology (CSAUAT) finds.

Vasant or spring, Sharad or autumn and Hemant or pre-winters, which used to be two-month long, no longer set in because of temperature anomalies, said Sunil Pandey, weather scientist at the university and part of the study team. The temperature increases or decreases so rapidly that these seasons end in less than a week, he said.

“The city’s green cover has fallen to 1.5%. This was 3.5% two decades ago. The number of vehicles has increased six times in the same period,” he said.

“Besides global climate change, local factors are playing a crucial role in seasonal anomalies. Rapid temperature changes cause this kind of imbalance that we are seeing.”

For example, spring used to arrive in the last week of February and stretched to the last week of April. During this duration the temperature should ideally be between 20 to 24 degrees Celsius. However, on average, the temperature during this period remained 2.5 degrees above normal.

On the other hand, temperatures in March and ongoing April have broken records this year. The temperature in the middle of April was recorded above 44 degrees Celsius. This year, after the winter season, people experienced summer straight away.

In the last few years, the university has done a comparative study of temperatures. It has found that the maximum temperature in March has increased by 2.06 degrees Celsius and minimum by 1.3 degrees Celsius, on average.

In March the temperature remained above normal for 29 days this year. And for five days it was five degrees Celsius more than the normal.

Pandey said the higher temperatures, particularly caused by the local factors, were contributing to this disturbed season cycle. The study has underlined Vasant, Sharad and Hemant either do not set in or end within two to five days.