2020 8th warmest year in India in 121 years: IMD

Team Udayavani, Jan 5, 2021, 4:13 PM IST

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that 2020 was the eighth warmest year India recorded in the last 121 years.

Last year, the annual mean land surface air temperature average was 0.29°C above normal, for the period average considered between 1981 and 2010. However, it was much lower than 2016 (+0.71°C), which remains the warmest year recorded since 1901.

The other warm years over India, all of them post 2005, have been, 2009 (+0.55 degrees Celsius) , 2017 (+0.54 degrees Celsius), 2010 (+0.53 degrees Celsius) and 2015 (+0.42 Celsius).

The statement on Climate of India during 2020, issued by the IMD  read, “The monsoon (+0.43 degrees Celsius) and the post-monsoon (+0.53 degrees Celsius) seasons contributed towards this warming”