Climate change causing more frequent and deadly lightning strikes: Scientists
climate change is leading to more thunderstorm activity and consequently, more lightning strikes worldwide, senior scientists said on Saturday. At least 43 people were killed due to lightning strikes in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and 21 in Bihar on Friday.
Most of the people killed were either transplanting paddy in fields, grazing cattle or taking shelter under trees to protect themselves from the rain.
Former Secretary in the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, said climate change is increasing the formation of convective or thunderstorm clouds.
«People have documented that the frequency of thunderstorms is increasing everywhere, including India, due to climate change,» he told PTI.
«Unfortunately, we do not have long-term data for lightning flashes to confirm an increase in incidents. However, we can conclude that global warming leads to more convective activity, resulting in more thunderstorms and, consequently, more lightning strikes,» he said.
Rajeevan explained that lightning is attributed to deeper clouds with large vertical extensions.
«With climate change increasing the moisture-holding capacity of the air, more such clouds are forming,» he added.
According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, lightning incidents in India increased by 30 to 40 per cent between 1995 and 2014.
National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) Crimes in India Report 2022 said lightning accounted for 2,887 of the 8,060 deaths caused by forces of nature.
Data from the India Meteorological
