International Journal of Climate Conditions

India is currently experiencing a significant transformation in its climate system, characterized by rising temperatures, irregular rainfall patterns, and an increasing frequency of extreme weather events. These changes are no longer gradual or isolated but are becoming more visible and impactful across different regions of the country. This study provides a detailed examination of long-term climatic trends in India by analysing temperature variations, monsoon behaviour, and the growing occurrence of extreme events such as heatwaves, floods, and cyclones, with a focus on recent developments up to 2025–2026.

Challenges of climate change are significantly increasing on a forward time scale. Such a phenomenon is predominantly seen in urban sectors where population is rapidly increasing, thereby resulting in extensive resource consumption leading to release of significant carbon footprint. An attempt has been made in the present paper by the authors initially to assess the carbon footprint of Jaipur, Rajasthan on a backward and forward time scale partly to suggest mitigating measures and partly to link it with carbon credit schemes for achieving circular economy and providing sustainability.

As the Earth’s climate enters a state of unprecedented volatility, the traditional methods of ecological observation—characterized by delayed reporting and fragmented data—are no longer sufficient. This study investigates the paradigm shift toward AI-driven IoT (KSK Approach)-based decision-making frameworks as the primary frontier in climate science. By deploying a "planetary nervous system" of interconnected sensors—measuring everything from soil moisture in the Sahel to glacial melt rates in the Arctic—we generate a high-fidelity, real-time stream of environmental data.

Since 1901, anthropogenic climate change has raised India's mean surface temperatures by about 0.9°C, compounding warming. Rapid urbanization creates persistent Urban Heat Islands (UHIs), making cities dangerously hotter than rural areas. A combination of these forces presents acute thermal hazards to hundreds of millions of urban dwellers. The paper discusses the emergence and intensification of UHI in nine large Indian cities (Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Patna) between 2001 and 2024.

Longterm daily temperature and rainfall data (2000–2024) for thirty-five locations ranging from ~350 to >4000 m amsl were obtained from the NASA POWER database. The variability and trends in maximum, minimum temperature and rainfall were worked out by using different statistical tools and Mann-Kendal test
trend analysis. The mean annual maximum temperature of the state was 20.3°C (CV = 3.9%), declining from 27.4°C in the low hills to 7.2°C at high elevations, and
exhibited a consistent increasing trend, with comparatively higher warming rates at higher altitudes (~0.10°C yr⁻¹) than in the lower (~0.01°C yr⁻¹). Seasonal pooled
summer and monsoon maximum temperatures were 22.7°C and 25.5°C, respectively, both showing positive trends.

The rapidly increasing instability of world climatic regimes has made past meteorological thresholds irrelevant, especially in the agricultural areas where monetary stability and well-being of humans are closely intertwined with an environmental situation. The more the frequency of 1 in every 1000-year events, i.e., heatwaves and catastrophic flooding increase, the greater the rural healthcare systems are in crisis, i.e., unable to predict a surge in demand because of data scarcity, and unable to maintain an infrastructural level to accommodate it.