With the monsoons arriving, it always takes the heat away and also brings our childhood memories back. Making floating paper boats of different sizes and shapes, jumping in the puddles of water, dancing in the rain, rescuing earthworms and whatnot. But, will this monsoon be a joy for future generations too?
There has been a change in rainfall pattern observed by IMD(Indian Meteorological Department) over the last 30 years.
The monsoon, which generally begins in June and retreats by Sept, delivers around 70% of India’s annual rainfall. It is crucial for the cultivation of rice, wheat, sugarcane and oil-seeds in the country where farming employs over half of its people. The monsoon is key to replenishing reservoirs, groundwater and addressing water shortages.
A study which was released in March 2020 found that there were significant decreasing trends in the south-west monsoon from 1989 to 2018 in the Ganga basin states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, which are known to have among the most fertile lands in the country.
Meghalaya, where Cherrapunji is known as one of the places with the highest precipitation globally, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh recorded a decreasing trend along with Himachal Pradesh.
The study found a significant increase in heavy rainfall (6.5 cm or more) days in Gujarat’s Saurashtra and arid regions of Kutch and south-eastern Rajasthan, as well as northern Tamil Nadu, northern Andhra Pradesh, south-west Odisha, parts of Chhattisgarh, south-west Madhya Pradesh, parts of West Bengal, Manipur and Mizoram, Konkan, Goa and Uttarakhand.
Also, there has been a trend of severe rainfall followed by longer dry spells.
India stands 7th in the countries affected by global climate change which isn’t good news. Climate change has been a major reason for the changes in monsoon rains.
Even the current locust attacks in India are due to the change in weather patterns. The changing sea temperatures have had a huge effect on the direction of winds (For more, you can refer to this thread).
If the climate change isn’t addressed as a top priority, we could see many more effects like these.
