Cold Waves Killed More Indians Than Heat Waves Since 1980 downtoearth.org.in

While North India is under the grip of severe ‘cold days’ and ‘cold waves’ in 2019, a look at the data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows a worrying trend. In 23 of the last 38 years (1980-2018), the human death toll in India due to cold waves was higher than that due to heat waves.

In 1992, 41 times more lives were lost due to cold waves. Between 2010 and 2018. the trend was somewhat different. In this period, around 4,506 people died due to cold waves while 5,572 died due to heat waves. The notable exception was 2011. That year, human deaths due to cold waves were nearly 60 times more than those due to heat waves.