The 2022 India–Pakistan heat wave was an
extreme weather event which resulted in the hottest March in
the subcontinent since 1901. The hot season arrived unusually early in the year and extended into April, affecting a large part of India's northwest and Pakistan.[1][2] The heatwave was combined with a drought, with rainfall being only a quarter to a third of normal. It occurred during a
La Niña event, in which heat records are generally less likely.[3]
Several cities across India had high temperatures over 42.8 °C (109.0 °F), with
Wardha rising to 45 °C (113 °F).[4] In
Pakistan, the city of
Nawabshah recorded a high temperature of 49.5 °C (121.1 °F)[5] and
Jacobabad and
Sibi both reached 47 °C (117 °F). Pakistan's
Minister of Climate ChangeSherry Rehman described it as a "spring-less year".[6]
Severity and significance
The heat wave broke records for temperature highs in Pakistan and India.[7] The wave has also received attention due to its length.[7]
Impacts
Impact on agriculture
During the
2022 food crises, India began taking steps to export more rice and wheat, in part to fill the gaps created by the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8] However, the heatwave caused increasing local prices and lower supply, issues also exacerbated by the war increasing fertilizer prices.[9] The heat wave occurred mostly during the final weeks of the wheat growing season, killing the plants shortly before harvest.[3][10]
The heatwave strongly impacted agriculture in India. At the same time early rainfall in India was 71% lower than the norm. In Punjab, the main crop producer in India, 15% of the harvest was lost and in some regions even 30%.[11]
The heatwave caused a reverse in policy by Indian government, from trying to import to address the crises, to halting exports.[12]
The heatwave has also severely impacted peach and apple harvests in
Balochistan.[13]
Nature and the environment
The heatwave has resulted in
birds falling from the sky in
Gujarat.[14]
Bridge collapse
The Hassanabad Bridge in
Hunza Valley, Pakistan collapsed after a glacial lake released large amounts of water into a stream caused by the heatwave.[15]
India faced its worst
electricity shortage in more than six years, and demand due to the heat wave strained the electric grid in the country.[16] Scorching temperatures forced early closures of schools and sent people indoors.[16]Rajasthan,
Gujarat, and
Andhra Pradesh all reduced power allocated to industry due to an increase in power consumption dedicated to cooling.
The high power demand increased demand for
coal in India, which is the main source of electricity generation in the country. The state-run enterprise
Coal India increased its output by 27%.
Indian Railways had to cancel hundreds of passenger trains as an emergency measure to prioritize hauling coal to
coal power plants to avoid
blackouts.[17] The state also requested that electricity providers imported some 19 million tonnes of coal before the end of June.[18]
On Friday, 29 April 2022, demand for electricity reached 207
gigawatts, an all-time high in India, representing an increase of two gigawatts of demand over the previous day.[13][19]
The occurrence of the heatwave was consistent with underlying
climate change in Pakistan and
in India.[22] Indian scientists said that the major proximate cause was "weak western disturbances – storms originating in the Mediterranean region – which meant little pre-monsoon rainfall in north-western and central India".[23]