Indian scientists warn of more intense freak weather in coming days

HYDERABAD: India's states will see more intense unpredictable freak weather in the coming days, warned climate change scientists, days after huge chunks of hail killed at least 10 people and wounded scores in Andhra Pradesh and hail storms this week destroyed cropland across Karnataka and Maharashtra. "The key word is these extreme events will increase under climate change and we near to gear up quickly to counter it before it's too late though micro-level climate vulnerability assessment and drastic cut on fossil fuel emission," G Bala, a top climate change expert at the Indian Institute of Science's Divecha Centre for Climate Change in Bangalore. In absence of quality assessment, met department officials are struggling to answer why places like Hyderabad gets heavy rainfall in early March and sudden hail storms destroys lakhs of acres of land in Warangal, Bidar in Karnataka or Nasik and Aurangabad in Maharashtra this week. Scientists have predicted that the frequency of extreme weather is likely to increase with less rainy days, but more quantum of rainfall because of more intensity and severe drought hitting other places. They say states should immediately carry out a micro-level study to assess the unpredictable weather as the country's fossil fuel emission is going up at alarming levels with no effort being made by governments to address climate change at local levels. "Knowledge is very important and information about climate change must be provided to politicians and policy makers. But there is simply no information. Climate action plans for states lack quality and there is no solid quality which is based on science," said Bala. Scientists say last June's cloudburst in Uttarakhand, a severe cold wave in north India this year, heavy snowfall in Chevalla, a sleepy hamlet in Andhra Pradesh last January, and Bangalore city recording 32 degree Celsius in January this year, are all extreme local weather phenomena, which needs to be studied and analyzed carefully. "What needs to happen is a clear micro-level vulnerability assessment that can help us understand and prepare for these unusual weather that will only increase," says Siddharth Pathak, an International policy coordinator at the Climate Action Network International