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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has officially announced on January 15, 2025, that the year 2024 has been the hottest year ever recorded in India.
This information was provided in the IMD’s 2024 Annual Report.
So far, the World Meteorological Organization, along with most global organisations, has declared 2024 as the hottest year globally.
The IMD report stated that the annual average land surface air temperature during 2024 was +0.65 degrees Celsius higher than the long-term average (1991-2020). This was the hottest year since the nationwide records began in 1901, surpassing the previous highest recorded temperature of +0.54 degrees in 2016.
The average temperature across India was above normal, with anomalirecorded as +0.37 degrees Celsius in winter (January-February), +0.56 degrees Celsius in pre-monsoon (March-May), +0.71 degrees Celsius during the south-west monsoon (June-September), and +0.83 degrees Celsius in the post-monsoon period (October-December).
In most parts of the eastern coast, heatwave conditions were observed in April, while in May, they were widespread across north-western India, and in June, most of northern and central India experienced heatwaves. The temperature anomalies in most parts of the country remained within the range of -1.0 degrees Celsius to +1.0 degrees Celsius for maximum, minimum, and average temperatures.
The five hottest years recorded so far were:
2024 (+0.65 degrees)
2016 (+0.54 degrees)
2009 (+0.40 degrees)
2010 (+0.39 degrees)
2017 (+0.38 degrees)
The report indicates that throughout 2024, the monthly average temperature was above normal for all months, except March, which was near normal with an anomaly of +0.22 degrees Celsius.
October recorded the highest monthly average temperature ever, with an anomaly of +1.23 degrees Celsius, followed by July and September, with anomalies of +0.70 degrees Celsius and +0.76 degrees Celsius, respectively. These were the highest anomalies ever recorded since 1901.
Additionally, November had the third highest average temperature since 1901, which was 0.84 degrees Celsius above normal, while May and August had the fourth highest average temperatures, with anomalies of +0.69 degrees Celsius and +0.45 degrees Celsius, respectively.
In 2024, November’s maximum monthly temperature was the second highest ever recorded across the country since 1901.
In June, some parts of Uttarakhand recorded maximum temperature anomalies of over four degrees Celsius, while parts of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand recorded maximum temperature anomalies exceeding 3 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, parts of Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Rayalaseema, northern interior Karnataka, southern interior Karnataka's extreme northern parts, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal had maximum temperature anomalies less than -1.0 degrees Celsius.
In 2024, the highest average monthly minimum temperatures were recorded during July, August, September, and October.
These temperature anomalies were +0.89 degrees Celsius, +0.59 degrees Celsius, +0.99 degrees Celsius, and +1.78 degrees Celsius, respectively, which were the highest since 1901.
Furthermore, February's average minimum temperature was the second highest since 1901, with an anomaly of +0.79 degrees Celsius.
In 2024, four cyclonic storms formed over the northern Indian Ocean. Of these, two were severe cyclonic storms (Remal and Dana), and two were cyclonic storms.
Three of these cyclones formed over the Arabian Sea (originating from the Bay of Bengal). Among these, Remal formed in the pre-monsoon period ( May 24-28), Asna during the monsoon period (August 25 to September 2), and Dana ( October 22-26) and Fengla (November 25 to December 2) during the post-monsoon period.
In addition to these cyclones, extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, lightning, storms, droughts, and other severe weather phenomena, were also experienced in various parts of the country.