Chennai witnessed an increase of four other “very warm” nights in the summer, powered mainly by the city’s thermal island, says the study. | Photo Credit: Vedhan M
Tamil Nadu is increasingly endangered by extreme thermal events, because 2024 was the warmest year worldwide and India has tolerated its longest thermal wave since 2010.
According to a recent study of the Council of Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Tamil ranks fifth among Indian states with high to high thermal risk, while the city centers such as Chennai have significant challenges of growing temperatures.
In fact, none of the Tamil Nadu districts fall into the categories of very low or low thermal risks. About 11% of districts face a slight thermal risk, while 43% are classified as a high risk and 46% of the districts fall into a category with a high thermal risk, indicating that most of the state face serious and widespread heat vulnerability.
According to the study, the wave in the Tamil Nadu districts has been extended by three days, which has intensified impacts on public health, agriculture and energy infrastructure. Chennai witnessed an increase of four other “very warm” nights in the summer, driven mainly by the city’s thermal island, where cities keep warm into the night.
Warming nights of growing concern
According to the CEEW study, national data from 1981 to 2022 show that the frequency of very warm nights has grown faster than very hot days, especially in the last decade. Both terms apply to temperatures exceeding 95. Percentile of historical records. This trend is influenced by natural climatic cycles such as El Niño and La Niña. For example, during the strong years El Niño, such as 1997 and 2016, was very hot days and very warm nights.
Experts emphasize that rising night temperatures are particularly dangerous because they prevent the body from cooling and recovering on hot days, which increases health risks for vulnerable groups such as older and children.
In Tamil Nadu, as in Pandjab, West Bengal, Keral and Karnataka, the vulnerability of heat is further impaired by high prevalence of non -transferable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. These conditions increase the risk of heat -related diseases, giving further burden on the health care system, emphasizing the study.
The study recommends that states, districts and cities should be exceeded on daily temperatures in planning thermal risk and include additional dimensions of warm nights, humidity, demographic patterns and health vulnerability.
Published – 1 June 2025 9:29
