Ahmedabad’s maximum temperature has remained above 37°C for the past six days, whereas cities like Rajkot and Bhuj recorded temperatures above 40°C. Ahmedabad: The month of Oct is already past its half-mark, but the city or the state at large is yet to experience even a semblance of the pre-winter chill. The temperatures say it all.
During every decade between 1951 and 2025, the number of days with temperatures of 35°C or above increased by about 2.3, states the study, ‘Spatiotemporal Evolution of Temperature Extremes Across India’s Agro-Climatic Zones’. Each decade over the study period saw the number of nights with a minimum temperature of 20°C or above rise by 1.5. Dr Misra, scientist E in IMD’s Agromat Advisory Services Division, and lead author of the study, said that the team looked at the daily temperatures from 1951 to 2025 for India’s 14 agro-climatic zones – regions grouped by soil, rainfall, and farming type. The data comes from a 1° grid (roughly 100km), so it shows regional patterns rather than individual towns or districts.
some parts also come under the neighbouring ‘Western Dry Region’ zone,” he said While Gujarat falls under ‘Gujarat Plains and Hills’ zone. It does not, by itself, tell us that yields are falling as we did not study crop yields,” said Dr Misra. the result of overall warming is consistent with earlier studies on the region, said researchers While the study’s purpose was not to examine specific causes. Wheat in the trans-Gangetic plain covering parts of Punjab-Haryana and cotton in the Gujarat Plains and Hills showed significant change in the thermal environment relevant to crop phenology, according to the study.
A study that talks about the long-term climatological change for the region shows a spike in the number of days with high daytime and night-time temperatures. It also highlights nights getting warmer. The study, recently published in the International Journal of Climatology, has been authored by Ashutosh Kumar Misra, Sudhir Kumar Mishra and others from India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). “The results are for the zones and not for individual states. “This tells us the season is getting warmer. The study has focused on how temperature windows affect the dominant crops and yields for regions. Gujarat Plains and Hills have cotton, groundnut and dairy as major produce. The researchers, however, pointed out that actual phenological responses are not recorded.