Study of Cold Wave and Cold Stress in the Four Metropolitan Cities of India for the Period 1985–2020

Authors

  • Priyankar Kumar

    Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
  • Arun Chakraborty

    Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
  • Sakshi Sharma

    Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
  • Mohd Sayeed Ul Hasan

    Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Department of Civil Engineering, Aliah University, New Town, West Bengal, 700160, India
  • Anup Upadhyaya

    Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jasr.v7i2.6268
Received: 22 February 2024; Revised: 11 April 2024; Accepted: 26 April 2024; Published Online: 30 April 2024

Abstract

Cold waves, cold nights and warm nights are major threats to human beings during winter due to climate change in different parts of India. The analysis of these has been studied for four major metropolitan cities (Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Delhi) of India during the period 1985–2020. The authors have used the 90th and 10th percentile threshold to identify the cold nights, warm nights and cold waves during the winter season. The degree of discomfort and cold stress category are identified using the Humidity Index (HD), and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The results indicate that the cold night event in Mumbai is ~0.36% higher than both Kolkata and Chennai cities but it is ~0.42% higher than Delhi. The number of cold wave events in Delhi is 53.5% higher than in Kolkata during the period of the study. It is also observed from the study of UTCI that the possibility of slight cold stress in the Delhi region during cold nights is 59.36% more than in other metropolitan cities. The study indicates that in the winter season, the climate of Delhi is more dynamic but for Kolkata it is relatively less dynamic.

Keywords:

Thermal stress; Cold wave; Humidity Index (HD); Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)

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How to Cite

Kumar, P., Chakraborty, A., Sharma, S., Sayeed Ul Hasan, M., & Upadhyaya, A. (2024). Study of Cold Wave and Cold Stress in the Four Metropolitan Cities of India for the Period 1985–2020. Journal of Atmospheric Science Research, 7(2), 83–113. https://doi.org/10.30564/jasr.v7i2.6268

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 2 (April 2024)

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Article

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Copyright © 2024 Priyankar Kumar, Arun Chakraborty, Sakshi Sharma, Mohd Sayeed Ul Hasan, Anup Upadhyaya

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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