In June 31 of 2012, the temperature had broken all past records to reach 35.2 degree Celsius in Kathmandu. Rising temperature in the arid month of June is not a new experience but a linear pattern with a gradual rise in temperature since more than four decades.
As per the report of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), the trend of extreme maximum temperature in Kathmandu in June has shown an increasing trend since 1968.
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Source:Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM)
Represented in graphs, the liner pattern of temperature clearly indicates that Nepal is getting hotter. Taking this reference, experts explain the weather phenomenon as a consequence of climate change.
"The rise in temperature is clearly understood and we have been feeling it as well. Even our report has shown this trend and we cannot deny this phenomenon as an impact of global warming," said Jagdishwar Karmacharya, Director General at the Meteorological Forecasting Division of DHM.
Starting with 28 degree Celsius in 1968, there has been a rise of almost 1 degree Celsius in the last one decade. Going by the report, the extreme maximum temperature has reached 30.5 degree Celsius in 2005, 30.6 degree Celsius in 2009, 31.1 degree Celsius in 2010, 31.2 degree Celsius in 2012 and a swift rise to 35 degree Celsius in 2015.
"There are various other fundamentals that assure us that impact of climate change in any region or a country, and temperature is one of the major components. Nepal has always been under the threat of global warming and this rising pattern signifies this," said Karmacharya.
As per the past record, Kathmandu had experienced the highest maximum temperature of 36.6 degree Celsius in May 1986.
Heat wave and climate change
The notorious impact of heat wave that has already claimed up to 2,000 lives across India has also been explained as the impact of climate change. This is the highest death toll by heat wave since 2003, when around 3000 people had died within a week.
Temperature has reached over 43 degree Celsius and in some places as high as 46 degree Celsius. The major human casualties have been reported in two southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Experts at New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has considered the heat wave of 2015 as the shortest and most effective heat wave since 2010. They have tried to reason the advent of extreme heat wave in relation with the prolonged wet February and March that had kept the temperatures cool.
The surge of heat wave that originated from Pakistan had entered India by the flow of north westerly wind. However, Karmacharya believes the impact of heat wave in Nepal due to the same north westerly wind that brought hot masses of air from the deserts of Rajasthan.
In Nepal alone, two people died of extreme heat in Saptari on June 8. One of the deceased Lekhman BK, 45, of Neta Batase VDC of Solukhambu district, had fallen unconscious in bus. He was heading towards Dharan from Katari.
The melting of glaciers, erratic rainfall and weather conditions are some of the significant indicators of climate change in Nepal and across the globe.
Melting of glaciers
The most horrible fact is the recently published international report that states the probability of over 70 percent volume loss in Everest region by 2100 if greenhouse emission continues to rise. A team of researchers from Nepal, France and the Netherlands have found Everest glaciers could be very sensitive to future warming and the sustained ice loss through the 21st century is likely.
Glaciers in High Mountain Asia, a region that includes the Himalayas, contain the largest volume of ice outside the Polar Regions. The team studied glaciers in the Dudh Koshi Basin, which is home to some of the world's highest peaks including Mt Everest.
Making a comment on a press release, Joseph Shea, a glacier hydrologist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu said, "The signal of future glacier change in the region is clear: continued and possibly accelerated mass loss from glaciers is likely given the projected increase in temperature."
During the last 32 years, 1.8 degree Celsius has increased in Nepal from 1975-2005. Experts at DHM suggest Nepal experiencing an annual temperature increase of 0.04 degree Celsius. Mean average temperature has been projected to have increased by 0.5-0.2 degree Celsius.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts an increase in world average temperature by 1.4-5.8 degree Celsius in 2100. Report suggests a rise of 0.89 degree Celsius from 1983 to 2012.
"The impact of climate change on Nepal cannot be denied. The melting of glaciers and snow and formation of numerous glacial lakes in the Himalayans is the most prominent evidence that I can provide," said Director General of DHM Rishiram Sharma.
