It's getting hot in here. The city, once known for its all-year-round pleasant climate, has seen a rise of 0.51 degree Celsius in the annual mean temperature over the past decade, a study has found.

City mean temperature moves north

It's getting hot in here. The city, once known for its all-year-round pleasant climate, has seen a rise of 0.51 degree Celsius in the annual mean temperature over the past decade, a study has found.

The study by the National Climate Centre (NCC) was conducted in 50 cities across the country last year.

"We have studied climatic conditions over the past decade as one can not judge climatic changes looking at the temperature only for a year," said A K Srivastava, director, NCC. "The aim was to examine the trend in 'discomfort conditions' in Indian cities during the summer."

The study was done during the pre-monsoon months, that is April to June, and it was observed that though the city has not seen any abnormal changes, there has been some discomfort due to the weather.

Not a drastic change
"It would be wrong to say there have been drastic changes in summer, but the fact remains that some uneasiness has set in," said Srivastava. "Wrong planning by cities' development agencies is responsible."

Srivastava said cities were left with no breathing space, what with tall concrete buildings that trap heat,
chopping of trees and industrialisation contributing in a major way to rising climate-related discomfort levels. He added that the general perception that the city has suddenly become hotter is incorrect.

Supporting Srivastava's results, Indian Meteorological Department director Dr Medha Khole said the perception that the city was never as warm as it is now during summer was completely wrong.

"If we look at studies done by various organisations, it's clear that the temperature has always crossed 40 degree Celsius during pre-monsoon period," said Khole.