Cold waves killed more Indians than heat waves since 1980: IMD

While North India is under the grip of severe 'cold days' and 'cold waves' in 2019, a look at the data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows a worrying trend. In 23 of the last 38 years (1980-2018), the human death toll in India due to cold waves was higher than that due to heat waves. 

In 1992, 41 times more lives were lost due to cold waves. Between 2010 and 2018. the trend was somewhat different. In this period, around 4,506 people died due to cold waves while 5,572 died due to heat waves. The notable exception was 2011. That year, human deaths due to cold waves were nearly 60 times more than those due to heat waves.

However, in 2018, the trend reversed again. About 136 people died due to cold waves in comparison to 16 deaths due to heat waves.

	Year	Human deaths due to  heat waves	Human deaths due to  cold waves
1	1980	156	185
2	1981	33	192
3	1982	16	63
4	1983	187	488
5	1984	58	155
6	1985	142	494
7	1986	156	276
8	1987	87	105
9	1989	43	215
10	1990	2	82
11	1992	114	303
12	1993	30	63
13	1996	20	68
14	1997	21	140
15	1999	119	222
16	2000	55	368
17	2001	56	490
18	2004	117	462
19	2008	111	114
20	2009	216	79
21	2010	242	450
22	2011	12	722
23	2018	16	136

The other shocking statistic that emerged between 2010 and 2018 was a whopping 506 per cent increase in the number of cold waves in India, despite increasing temperatures worldwide due to global warming. 

Severe cold days in the next days: IMD

According to the IMD bulletin released on December 27, 2019, cold to severe cold day conditions are likely to remain over many areas of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, northern Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during the next two days. 

The maximum temperatures was markedly below normal (-5.1°C or less) at most places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and gangetic West Bengal. 

According to IMD, the maximum temperatures was appreciably below normal (-3.1°C to -5.0°C) at most places over Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh, at many places over Madhya Pradesh and at a few places over Gujarat too.

Along with severe cold days, some pockets in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Bihar may also experience cold to severe cold waves.

A cold day is defined on the basis of maximum day temperature while a cold wave is defined by looking at minimum temperatures recorded on two consecutive nights.

Wither planning?

The guidelines for Action Plan on Prevention and Management of Heat Wave prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2016, were further revised in 2017. In fact, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare too had issued guidelines to deal with heat-related illness. 

In 2019, the government had started working with 23 states and over 100 cities and districts to implement and develop heat action plans in India.

But do the states have plans to deal with cold waves so that human lives can be saved?

North India India

India Environment Portal Resources :

• The role of Rossby-wave propagation in a North American extreme cold event
• Estimating and projecting the effect of cold waves on mortality in 209 US cities
• The Circumglobal North American wave pattern and its relation to cold events in eastern North America
• Magnitude and frequency of heat and cold waves in recent decades: the case of South America