Monsoon rains 2025: How climate change intensified India’s rains
India's 2025 monsoon has been unusually severe, arriving earlier than expected and causing widespread damage.
Climate change has intensified the monsoon, with multiple western disturbances contributing to extreme weather events.
States like Jammu and Uttarakhand have faced significant challenges, including flash floods and infrastructure damage, highlighting the urgent need for climate resilience and preparedness.
This year’s monsoon has not only arrived early in the country but has also brought rains that have clearly tested and bested our infrastructure.
The south-west monsoon, which brings rainfall from June to September, arrived ahead of schedule. The forecast had predicted its onset between mid-May and the end of June, but in some states, it arrived at least 14 to 18 days earlier.
After last week’s pummelling of Mumbai by incessant rains that affected both rich and poor alike, Jammu and Uttarakhand have become the latest victims of the relentless assault. On August 24, 2025, the IMD, in its press release, reported very heavy to heavy rainfall in Jammu and Uttarakhand respectively.
Flood-like situations were observed in some parts of Jammu, and a bridge on the Jammu–Patanort highway near Kathua suffered extensive damage, forcing the administration to halt movement on the route.
In Uttarakhand, meanwhile, heavy rains triggered flash floods in Chamoli district yet again. In Tharali town, the floods claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman and caused massive damage to property, including the residence of the subdivisional magistrate.
This year’s pattern of erratic and unprecedented rainfall is linked to multiple western disturbances, which have contributed to extreme rainfall and flash floods in some Himalayan states. Western disturbances are extra-tropical storms that originate in the Mediterranean region and move eastwards, bringing rainfall during the winter and spring months. However, due to climate change — which in this case has warmed West Asia and the Arctic — the frequency of western disturbances has increased during the south-west monsoon season.
The monsoon of 2025 has already witnessed 15 western disturbances so far, and experts warn of heightened dangers when these coincide with cyclonic systems. One painful reminder is the 2013 Uttarakhand flash floods, which devastated the Kedarnath Valley and claimed more than 5,000 lives. That tragedy was the result of a western disturbance coinciding with a monsoon trough.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed grief over the tragic loss of the 21-year-old woman. The IMD has issued warnings for heavy rain and thunderstorms in some districts on August 25. Alerts have also been sounded for all districts of Jammu and Kashmir on the same day.