Coping with seasonal change
Summers are proving to be too hot in Jammu and Kashmir. The previous as well as the present summer is again reflecting on the fact that the seasonal change is here to stay.
The summer of 2025 has proven to be hottest for Srinagar, with the city recording its warmest June in 47 years, raising fresh concerns about the impact of climate change in Kashmir.
This summer Srinagar registered an overall average temperature of 24.6°C in June — making it the second hottest June since records began in 1892. The only hotter June was in 1978, when the monthly average touched 25.0°C.
This year’s minimum temperature came close to the all-time record for warmest nights in June — a worrying sign for a city that once enjoyed cool evenings even during peak summer.
Environmental experts attribute the temperature rise to rapid urban development, loss of green spaces and the spread of concrete infrastructure across Srinagar. The city’s traditional natural coolants — such as wetlands, open fields and dense tree cover has witnessed a drastic decline due to unregulated construction.
Notably, the earth’s climate experienced its hottest year in 2024. Extreme flooding in April killed hundreds of people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A year-long drought left Amazon river levels at an all-time low.
A new report from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms that 2024 was the first year on record with a global average temperature exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. All continents except Australasia and Antarctica experienced their hottest year on record, with 11 months of the year exceeding the 1.5°C level.
Global temperatures have been at record levels – and still rising – for several years now. The previous hottest year on record was 2023. All ten of the hottest years on record have fallen within the last decade. But this is the first time a calendar year has exceeded the 1.5°C threshold.
Interestingly, natural factors, including a strong El Niño, contributed to the increased temperatures in 2024. El Niño is a climate phenomenon that affects weather patterns globally, causing elevated ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific.
It can raise global average temperatures and make extreme events more likely in some parts of the world. While these natural fluctuations enhanced human-caused climate change in 2024, in other years they act to cool the earth, potentially reducing the observed temperature increase in a particular year.
However, the devastation of green cover and environmental degradation needs to be put under check and steps initiated so that a huge tragedy is avoided.
To ensure that warming does not exceed 1.5°C for a prolonged period, and avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is also vital to adapt infrastructure to and protect people from the unprecedented extremes caused by current and future levels of warming.
