For years, Wayanad in Kerala has been watching its weather more closely than perhaps any other hill district in India.
The Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology, based in district headquarters Kalpetta, has built a community weather-monitoring network across the district, measuring rainfall and temperature at hundreds of locations. What began after the devastating floods and landslides of 2018 and 2019 has grown into one of India’s most extensive local weather-monitoring experiments.
Since 2024, Hume has collected rainfall data from more than 200 locations, using rain gauges and thermometers maintained with community participation. The network has since expanded, offering an unusually detailed picture of local weather patterns. And what the instruments are recording is worrying. Wayanad, bordering the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu and Kodagu in Karnataka, is warming.
The change is unsettling a hill district long known for rain, mist, cool nights and green mountains. Its climate shaped everything from coffee and pepper cultivation to tourism and everyday life. Now, this sought-after hill destination is gradually losing some of the climatic charm that made it special.
The latest measurements from the Hume Weather Lab provide a striking snapshot. Between September 1 and 17, 2026, the average temperature in Wayanad was 29.2°C, compared with 27.3°C in 2023, 27.2°C in 2024 and 27.3°C in 2025. This was about 1.9°C above the average for the previous three years.
Maximum temperatures remained above 30°C for seven consecutive days, from September 11 to 17, touching 30.7°C on September 15. The highest temperature recorded so far this year was 34.4°C on April 18. Exposed soil temperatures touched 39°C during the first 17 days of September, with readings above 30°C on several days. Rainfall was limited to four isolated events, while the average minimum temperature was 20.9°C.
The significance lies not simply in a few hot days, but in the combination of heat, soil temperature, moisture stress and uncertain rainfall. For a landscape whose agriculture, forests and settlements evolved around a relatively cool, wet climate, the consequences could be profound.
Wayanad forms part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the larger Western Ghats ecosystem. Its mountains, forests and valleys sustain numerous streams. The Kabini, one of Kerala’s major east-flowing rivers, originates in the region before flowing into Karnataka and joining the Cauvery river system.
The monsoon has shaped the district’s agricultural rhythms. Heavy rain replenished streams and paddy fields, while forests retained moisture and moderated local temperatures. Coffee, pepper, arecanut and other crops developed around a particular sequence of rainfall, sunshine and cool nights.
Tourism grew around the same climatic advantage. Visitors from Kerala’s hotter plains travelled to Wayanad for misty mornings, pleasant afternoons and cold evenings. Resorts, plantation stays and wildlife tourism were marketed as an escape from the heat. That promise is becoming less certain.
In an exclusive interaction with Down To Earth, C K Vishnudas, director of the Hume Centre, says rising temperatures and declining soil moisture could have serious consequences for agriculture.
“The water table could decline rapidly as groundwater levels fall. Wetland crops, particularly paddy, could be severely affected by water stress, while cultivated plants in general may also face greater pressure,” he says.
The concern is not merely about warmer afternoons. It is about disrupting the relationship between temperature, rainfall and crops. Coffee requires a carefully timed sequence of rain and dry weather for flowering and fruit development. Pepper vines are vulnerable to prolonged moisture stress as well as intense rainfall, while arecanut needs reliable water during dry spells. Paddy depends directly on the timing and availability of water.
Farmers must therefore contend with weather that may no longer follow the agricultural calendar inherited from previous generations.
A coffee plant in Wayanad was recently observed flowering in September, although flowering in the district is normally associated with December to February. One observation cannot establish a climate trend, but it warrants investigation.
“This is perhaps the first time we are observing such impacts in the district against the backdrop of a strong El Niño,” says Vishnudas.
Research has already documented the vulnerability of Wayanad’s coffee economy. A study involving 120 coffee-growing households in Vythiri, Ambalavayal and Noolpuzha, using climate information from 1991 to 2022, found significant vulnerability arising from changing rainfall and temperature patterns. Vythiri emerged as the most vulnerable of the three locations.
Another study of 314 Robusta coffee farms across Wayanad and neighbouring coffee-growing regions identified rainfall variability as a major constraint on productivity at the district level. At the broader regional scale, maximum temperature became the dominant climate factor. Under a scenario of 2°C global warming, the study projected a median decline of about 12% in Robusta coffee yield in Wayanad at the regional scale.
The problem, therefore, is not simply that Wayanad is becoming hotter. It is becoming less predictable. Farmers may face prolonged dry spells when water is most needed, followed by intense rainfall that damages soil and crops. Irrigation becomes more important during dry periods, while drainage becomes critical during extreme rain. The same farm can experience drought-like conditions and destructive rainfall within a single agricultural cycle.
The 2024 Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide demonstrated the other side of this changing climate. The extreme rainfall that triggered the disaster was estimated to have been about 10.8% heavier because of human-induced warming. Climate change did not create the unstable slopes or determine where people lived, but a warmer atmosphere increased the intensity of the immediate rainfall trigger.
Wayanad’s future, therefore, cannot be described simply as hotter or drier. It could be hotter, wetter during extreme bursts and drier between events.
There is also a human health dimension. Temperatures can swing from around 20°C at night to above 30°C during the day. Repeated exposure to heat can increase dehydration and heat stress, placing additional pressure on cardiovascular and kidney function. Outdoor workers, older people and children are particularly vulnerable.
Agricultural labourers, construction workers and forest staff can suffer during several consecutive hot days, even when temperatures remain below the extreme levels recorded in northern India. Livestock may experience heat stress and reduced productivity, while wild animals may alter their movements in search of shade and water. Changes in flowering and fruiting can affect insects, birds and other wildlife dependent on seasonal food availability.
Land-use changes could intensify the problem. Satellite observations have shown an expansion of built-up areas in Wayanad alongside declines in agricultural and paddy areas. Vegetation is associated with lower land-surface temperatures, while built-up and exposed areas tend to be considerably hotter.
Forests and shade cool the landscape. Vegetation protects soil from direct solar radiation and helps retain moisture. When it is removed, surfaces heat faster and lose water more rapidly. A warming planet combined with forest fragmentation, wetland loss, expanding construction and exposed soil presents a greater challenge than climate change alone.
Wayanad is becoming a natural laboratory for understanding how global climate change translates into everyday life. The Hume network makes it unusually valuable. Its community monitors record rainfall and temperature at a finer scale than conventional networks, allowing observations to be related to farms, settlements, forests and vulnerable slopes. The system emerged because conventional weather observations were too sparse to capture Wayanad’s highly localised rainfall patterns.
The next step is to connect these observations systematically with soil moisture, groundwater levels, stream flows, crop flowering, yields, forest conditions, animal behaviour and human health.
September’s heat alone cannot prove that Wayanad has entered a permanently different climate regime. Weather varies, and El Niño can amplify individual episodes. But the warning is difficult to ignore.