Highlights
2010 was the warmest year ever in India since weather records began in 1901. The Indian Meteorological Department announced on Thursday that the mean annual temperature in the country during 2010 was as much as 0.93 degrees Celsius higher than the long term (1961-1990) average.
IMD officials said the record heat in 2010 was a continuation of the warming trend in the past decade that can only be attributed to global warming. The last decade has been the warmest in the country’s history. The previous warmest year was 2009, when the annual mean temperature was 0.913 degrees C above the long term average.
“There has been an almost one degree rise in temperature this year compared to the average. This has brought us at a completely new level and the next few years are likely to record temperatures 0.2-0.3 degrees more or less from the 2010 average, unless some major weather phenomenon occurs. This is a definite impact of global warming. Warming started around 1970 but the real impact has been felt only in the last 10 years,” said Ajit Tyagi, director-general, IMD.
The annual average temperature for the country is 24.64 degrees C. In 2010, the major contributor to warming was the pre-monsoon season (March to May) when the mean temperature was 1.8 degrees C above normal. “Both the maximum and minimum temperatures were on the higher side throughout 2010, particularly in northern India,” said an IMD official.
The source article Forget the chill, 2010 was India's hottest year on record was published January 14, 2011 by The Times of India .
