Climate alarm

On Saturday, Srinagar recorded 37.4°C, the highest July temperature in over 70 years. Nights offered no comfort either. At 24.5°C, it was among the warmest the city has ever seen. For a region that was home to pleasant summers, this feels unsettling.

What we are witnessing is not a fluke, it’s part of a larger, more dangerous pattern. The Himalayas are warming faster than much of the planet, and Kashmir is already bearing the consequences. Erratic rain, shorter winters, shrinking glaciers spell trouble for our water-bodies and, as a result, for agriculture. People are already experiencing its impact in paddies and orchards, with crops hit by adverse climate, fruit ripening fast and the declining water table causing the ground to become increasingly dry.

Extreme summer temperatures of this nature were once unheard in the Valley. The region, its summer capital Srinagar and the famous health resports were known for mild summers compared to mainland India. But the current spell of heatwave is turning out to be one of the worst in over a century. So much so, that it is changing the face of Kashmir’s weather, something that is not just bad for agriculture but also tourism.

This is a dampener for tourism. A pleasant summer with moderate temperature has always drawn holiday makers from the rest of the country to Kashmir. But the ongoing heatwaves, which on some days even exceeds that of the hottest destinations in mainland India, could force a rethink on the aspiring tourists. At the same time, there’s a silver lining in that the hot season in Kashmir doesn’t usually last more than two months. Even the heatwaves are punctuated by intermittent rains which abruptly bring down the temperature.

That said, the record-breaking rise in temperatures is a matter of concern. More so, when it is largely the global factors that are triggering it - albeit, our local environmental choices too may have played an aggravating role. But while we can’t do much about the larger global triggers, we can try and address the local factors such as deforestation and urbanization. And we have to do it before it is too late.