Study of the Present and Future Scenario Heatwaves and Heat Stress for the Few Important States of India

Authors

  • Sakshi Sharma

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

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

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

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

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jees.v7i6.8913
Received: 1 March 2025; Revised: 20 March 2025; Accepted: 7 April 2025; Published Online: 9 June 2025

Abstract

India is highly vulnerable to climate change and is going to increase its average annual temperature over the next few decades. The impact of heatwaves and related mortality is a concern for the country. In this paper, we aim to study the heatwaves and heat stress-related Heat Index vulnerability using heat index temperature. In this analysis, a heat index temperature is calculated based on temperature and relative humidity for six different states (Delhi, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh) of India to determine the heat stress vulnerability for which heat cramps and heat strokes are possible. Our analysis shows that most of the heatwaves and severe heatwaves occurred during 2010 for all the states. The heatwaves are observed only in the summer months. All the states of our study reached the Extreme Caution category of the Heat Index showing the Danger to Extreme Danger category during April to June. Future projection scenarios show an increase in heat stress-related vulnerability. SSP2-4.5 scenario showed that Delhi, Punjab, and West Bengal reached an Extreme Danger state during June for which death due to heat strokes is possible under continued exposure to heatwaves. The HI related vulnerability of SSP5-8.5 is like SSP2-4.5 except for Andhra Pradesh which shows an Extreme Danger state in May and June during which heat strokes are possible under continued exposure to heatwaves. This study provides spatial variability of heat stress and Heat Index vulnerability which may help adopt future strategies for heat-related policy implication.

Keywords:

Heatwaves; Heat Index Temperature; Relative Humidity

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How to Cite

Sharma, S., Kumar, A., Arun Chakraborty, & Sharma, V. (2025). Study of the Present and Future Scenario Heatwaves and Heat Stress for the Few Important States of India. Journal of Environmental & Earth Sciences, 7(6), 181–212. https://doi.org/10.30564/jees.v7i6.8913

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Vol. 7 , Iss. 6 (June 2025): In Progress

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Copyright © 2025 Sakshi Sharma, Abhishek Kumar, Arun Chakraborty, Vineet Sharma

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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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