India recorded extreme weather events on 86–99 per cent of days each year between January and September from 2022 to 2026, according to CSE-DTE’s Climate India 2026 report.
Extreme weather events claimed 16,303 lives over the five-year assessment period, with nearly 65 per cent of deaths occurring between 2024 and 2026.
At least 20.6 million hectares of cropped area were affected during the five years, with 2025 recording the highest damage at 9.47 million hectares.
The report highlights shifting seasonal patterns, including warmer winters, earlier heatwaves and growing agricultural losses during the pre-monsoon season.
Extreme weather events are striking India with alarming frequency and ferocity. A disaster a day has become the new normal, with extreme weather events occurring on 86-99 per cent of days each year between 2022 and 2026, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth (DTE) report, Climate India 2026: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events, released on November 4, 2026. (HYPERLINK: LINK TO FREE DOWNLOADABLE REPORT)
The share of days affected rose from 86-88 per cent in 2022 and 2023 to 93 per cent in 2024 — the hottest year on record globally and in India — and peaked at 99 per cent in 2025.
In 2026, India recorded extreme weather events on 251 of the 273 days between January 1 and September 30. This means that for nearly 92 per cent of the first nine months of the year, at least one part of the country was hit by an extreme weather event. For five consecutive years, most parts of India have experienced extreme weather on at least 100 days annually.
The report draws on DTE’s India’s Atlas on Weather Disasters, an open-access, interactive public database launched in 2022 to track extreme weather events daily. It provides seasonal, monthly and regional analyses of extreme weather events and the associated loss and damage during the January-September period over five consecutive years: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The assessment draws data on extreme weather events from two key government sources: the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Disaster Management Division (DMD) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. It also examines media reports to track events, particularly during the pre-monsoon season, when official data are inadequate.
The assessment focuses on two key parameters: the number of days on which India recorded extreme weather events and the resulting loss and damage, measured in terms of human fatalities, cropped area affected, houses damaged and livestock lost.
The events include lightning and thunderstorms; heavy, very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall; landslides and floods; cold waves; heatwaves; cyclones; snowfall; dust and sandstorms; squalls; hailstorms; and gales.
Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of days with extreme weather events, at 748, during the five-year assessment period (January-September 2022-2026), followed by Himachal Pradesh (740), Uttar Pradesh (653), Maharashtra (648) and Assam (526). The assessment covers a total of 1,366 days.
Extreme weather events claimed 16,303 lives across the country over the five-year period. Nearly 65 per cent of these deaths occurred between 2024 and 2026.
Annual fatalities rose from 2,755 in 2022 to 2,923 in 2023 and 3,238 in 2024, before reaching a five-year high of 4,064 in 2025. In 2026, the death toll stood at 3,320, 21 per cent higher than in 2022.
Agriculture has also borne an increasingly heavy toll. At least 20.6 million hectares of cropped area were affected between 2022 and 2026, with more than 82 per cent of the damage occurring in the last three years.
The affected area increased from 1.84 million hectares in 2022 to 3.2 million hectares in 2024. It surged to 9.47 million hectares in 2025. In 2026, another 4.25 million hectares were affected, the second-highest annual figure in the five-year period.
The five-year period witnessed significant shifts in seasonal weather patterns. Winters have become warmer, accompanied by a decline in cold-wave events.
The winter of 2026 recorded the second-lowest number of cold-wave and cold-day events in five years. February 2026 witnessed no such events for the first time in the assessment period. It was also the fourth-warmest February in 125 years.
Himachal Pradesh experienced a severe heatwave in early March 2026, the earliest such occurrence in the five-year assessment period. The heatwave arrived 74 days earlier than the corresponding event in 2024, pointing to a shift in the timing of extreme heat.
Coastal Andhra Pradesh also experienced its earliest heatwave in five years, reinforcing the emerging pattern of heatwaves occurring earlier in the year.
Alongside the monsoon, the pre-monsoon season is emerging as another period of heightened agricultural risk. Between March and May 2026, at least 0.73 million hectares of cropped area were affected — the second-highest loss recorded during the pre-monsoon season in five years, after 2023.
An increase in extreme weather events has been recorded across all regions of India.
In the central region, the share of days affected by extreme weather rose from 73 per cent in 2022 to 78 per cent in 2026. In the east and northeast, it increased from 63 to 80 per cent.
The northwest region recorded extreme weather on 71 per cent of days in 2022. This share rose to 94 per cent in 2025 before declining to 86 per cent in 2026.
In the southern peninsular region, it increased from 46 per cent in 2022 to a peak of 75 per cent in 2025, before falling to 64 per cent in 2026.
Although the intensity and types of extreme weather events vary across seasons and regions, no part of the country has remained untouched. The findings point to a nationwide escalation of weather-related risks, with mounting consequences for lives, livelihoods and agriculture.