# Heat wave in India and Pakistan **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852 "2022-05-02T20:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/1 "2022-05-02T20:51:33Z")
It seems to be extreme and no end in sight. Is anyone there that can provide details? Is it mentioned in the US media? The consequences are breathtaking. It is being reported that the government has cancelled over 750 passenger trains, so that coal carrying trains can circulate freely. They are needed to generate the electricity to power the [air conditioning](https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/klima-nachhaltigkeit/hitzewelle-klimakrise-wird-sueden-asiens-erschuettern-17999932.html?premium) (Link in German and probably paywalled). And the garbage in New Delhi spontaneouly self combusts: > **[17-story-tall 'mountain' of garbage spontaneously combusts during Indian...](https://www.livescience.com/new-delhi-garbage-fire)** > > Methane gas is to blame. How is this going to affect crops? Is widerspread hunger in India and Pakistan a realistic possibility? How bad could this become before the monsoon rains bring relief? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/2 "2022-05-02T20:55:21Z")
I have seen it mentioned in U.S. media, a headline yesterday said the heatwave was “borderline unlivable” heat. But it isn’t getting super widespread attention, but there have been front page stories about it. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/3 "2022-05-02T21:29:10Z")
Replying only for India, do not know about Pakistan. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Is anyone there that can provide details? I have not met any dopers who actually live in India. My parents and extended family do live in the heat wave zone and have had AC run all the time over the last week. Its an unprecedented heat wave. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Is it mentioned in the US media? Yes. [India’s record-setting heat wave in pictures (msn.com)](https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/indias-record-setting-heat-wave-in-pictures/ar-AAWQx1X) > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > How is this going to affect crops? It is not all over India but a part of India. Here is the map [1wy5s49qnuw81.jpg (1000×1078) (redd.it)](https://i.redd.it/1wy5s49qnuw81.jpg) The heat wave location coincides with the Wheat growing zone and will effect the wheat crop. Wheat farmers were expecting good profits due to the Ukraine war, but thats not going to happen. Expect wheat /flour prices to go up worldwide. The heat wave does not effect all of India or other crops like rice which start after monsoon. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Is widerspread hunger in India and Pakistan a realistic possibility? Speaking for India : No, Plans are put into effect in India to store food for years to come. Just like strategic Oil reserves in the US, India has strategic food reserves. Countries like Afghanistan, which relies on cheap wheat exports from India may suffer. It is important to note that in 2021, Pakistan blocked all land routes for transporting wheat to Afghanistan from India - that may happen again with devastating consequences. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > How bad could this become before the monsoon rains bring relief? Thats speculation territory, but India will pull through. Sort of like how the West Coast of the US pulled through the heat wave in 2021. I was vacationing in Seattle, WA and met many folks from Oregon who had driven north to escape the heat. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/4 "2022-05-02T21:49:48Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Expect wheat /flour prices to go up worldwide. > […] > Plans are put into effect in India to store food for years to come. Just like strategic Oil reserves in the US, India has strategic food reserves. Thanks for the information. People in Europe are worried that wheat price rises will lead to trouble in Northern Africa, like during the Arab Spring some years ago. Syria, Libya, Tunesia and Egypt are still feeling the consequences, that would be bad. Strategic reserves sounds reassuring, I hope they work: War in Russia/Ukraine and heat wave in India is a bad combination. And fertilizer is so expensive that many farmers are cutting the use down, [Bloomberg](https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/farmers-are-struggling-to-keep-up-food-supply-as-fertilizer-prices-surge) writes. Sri Lanka is [worrying](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/sri-lanka-fertiliser-ban-president-rajapaksa-farmers-harvests-collapse) too, with political mistakes making the problem worse. The map you linked to looks awfully hot, hardly a place below 35°C and up to 45°C! ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/5 "2022-05-02T22:00:44Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > People in Europe are worried that wheat price rises In India, there are parts which traditionally have wheat (bread) as their staple crop while other parts have rice as their staple crop. It has gotten diversified though, which is good. How is it with Europe ? I have mostly visited Germany and Italy and rice is still not part of the mainstream diet. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/6 "2022-05-02T23:04:05Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Strategic reserves sounds reassuring, I hope they work: Yeah - it is bad times all over the world. With Russia increasingly cutting off Natural gas to European countries, I hope their action plan works too. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/7 "2022-05-03T05:14:09Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Countries like Afghanistan, which relies on cheap wheat exports from India may suffer. It is important to note that in 2021, Pakistan blocked all land routes for transporting wheat to Afghanistan from India - that may happen again with devastating consequences. Just a side-note - but it seems to me Afghanistan’s main problem would be transport corridor or not, they don’t have the money. The USA has frozen most of the former government’s foreign currency deposits, and anyway, the economy was heavily dependent on the wads of money being sent by the USA to prop up the previous government. There is already food problems, from what I saw in the media. Here in Canada we’ve seen a lot of muted protest by people who have relative back in India, particularly Punjab. This centers around a series of bills to remove price supports from farmers, allowing them to sell on the open market. The fear is that this will become the “open” market, a few monopolists will corner the market for buying farm production and short-change the farmers for fun and profit. As I understand, these bills have been retracted after some unrest in India, but no indication what effect this will have / has had on farming so far, and whether this is not a problem going forward. If there’s the potential for weather problems, the last thing India needs is economic man-made disruptions too. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/8 "2022-05-03T05:58:10Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > I have mostly visited Germany and Italy and rice is still not part of the mainstream diet. Risotto? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/9 "2022-05-03T06:14:24Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > They are needed to generate the electricity to power the [air conditioning] > Currently, just about 13% of Indian households have air-conditioning > **[India's AC requirement is set to rise steeply, shows study](https://www.deccanherald.com/india/indias-ac-requirement-is-set-to-rise-steeply-shows-study-1049050.html)** > > India’s use of air-conditioning is likely to expand in the next two decades covering 69 per cent of the household, pushing the country’s electricity requirement up by three times from the house cooling sector alone, according to a new study released... So air conditioning is only for the elites. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/10 "2022-05-03T06:21:46Z")
A long article in the NY Times: > **[The Extreme Heat Pummeling India and Pakistan Is About to Get Worse](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/world/asia/india-extreme-heat-wave.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DJDmwSiPsSGYyMvE7WZKMkZt0_3j3eSc9dKrIqSblyw-ZDelNkVQTuooeBnN5NBRQJnr-JfzF82YPRD_d_-CX2b2K9JaAim-LutEvabn27WKfUzXF3Iwt68cc1dEWviXYPkq_AFbF-3tJuzLx2UMABMDQDZCiMv_DjGk8-bI3ANkeAn1FwD-JJWjjTnsqe76YCcmhQDlHFSnB-6QUs-Y8WeYNXbOukcUlWKIepiq4RC2doMI6tG5QxIoHQnL1vurTGwgeeBU4YUA17xQK8nFyNDTQMIw&smid=url-share)** > > The Indian subcontinent has recorded above-average temperatures for weeks. Heat-related weather watches or alerts are now in effect for hundreds of millions of people. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/11 "2022-05-03T08:09:53Z")
I was in India last month and the heat was considerable (100F, 36C) even in the Western city of Mumbai, which is located on the coast and is supposed to be more moderate. I was in Delhi for a day and it was burning at 107.6F (42C). These temperatures were not normal for that time of the year (March-April). We have now entered the hottest part of summer but the temperatures in the map are more still a little excessive, though not by too much - even Chennai in the deep south can hit 44C (111F) during the day and remain around 33C (91F) at midnight. On the positive side, the monsoon rains are less than a month away, and are predicted to be **[nearly normal](https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/imd-predicts-normal-monsoon-this-year-at-99-of-long-period-average-122041400411_1.html#:~:text=Earlier%20this%20week%2C%20private%20weather,per%20cent%20of%20the%20LPA&text=The%20southwest%20monsoon%20over%20the,(IMD)%20predicted%20on%20Thursday.)**. Doubt if India will experience mass hunger - India has extremely good strategic reserves of the food staples, established because Indian agriculture is so dependent upon the health of the monsoon. Perishables like some seasonal vegetables may be affected, but not wheat or rice. It is estimated that India has grain stocks in excess of 97 million metric tonnes. > [@](#): > > By the end of the crop year to June 2020, FCI’s rice and wheat stocks surged to 97.27 million tonnes against its requirement of 41.12 million tonnes. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/12 "2022-05-03T08:20:40Z")
> [@](#): > > So air conditioning is only for the elites. People buy what they can afford. How many American households own a Cadillac SUV? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/13 "2022-05-03T08:47:06Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > How is it with Europe ? I have mostly visited Germany and Italy and rice is still not part of the mainstream diet. Europe is quite varied: risotto (northern Italy) and paella (Spain, mainly in the Mediterranean coast) are rice based and frequent, polenta is corn (northern Italy), Germans are called Kartoffel in some quarters for a reason, potatoes are an important part of the diet in Eastern Europe too, and then there is fish and chips. But in general the main source of flour for bread is wheat, with some rye. Barley is important for beer. Corn (maize) is used more for feed than for food (polenta apart), but then we eat the animals, so it is important. And then there is more and more ethanol production, mainly from corn (maize), which competes with feed & food uses. I am reading a lot of sources that fear that fertilizer use will decline due to rising prices. That should reduce yields and production, raising food prices. Oil seems to be a very particular market at the moment. Indonesia has [banned the export](https://www.reuters.com/business/indonesias-palm-oil-export-ban-leaves-global-buyers-with-no-plan-b-2022-04-25/) of palm oil, let’s see for how long. In Europe sunflower oil and rape oil (I believe you call it canola?) are being [rationed](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/26/uk-supermarkets-rationing-cooking-oil-tesco-morrisons-waitrose-shortages-ukraine) by the [shops](https://www.thelocal.es/20220309/spains-supermarkets-ration-sunflower-oil-over-ukraine-war/), not the [state](https://brusselsmorning.com/greek-retail-chains-begin-rationing-flour-and-sunflower-oil-sales/22884/). Ukraine was the leading producer, Russia the second, that will remain a tight market for some time. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/14 "2022-05-03T11:39:52Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So air conditioning is only for the elites. 20 percent of the US Income flows to the top 1 percent. And taxes are not for the elite in the US. We can talk about social inequalities in India and the US, but thats a separate topic. Its a work in progress for India. After Independence from the British, it was debated if; Communism like China ,where people forego rights but get economic equality fairly quickly or the long drawn out economic equality of Democracy be embraced. Democracy won, and its taking longer than China to get there, but thats where India is headed. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/15 "2022-05-03T11:43:23Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Here in Canada we’ve seen a lot of muted protest by people who have relative back in India, particularly Punjab. This centers around a series of bills to remove price supports from farmers, allowing them to sell on the open market. The fear is that this will become the “open” market, a few monopolists will corner the market for buying farm production and short-change the farmers for fun and profit. That was resolved and the bill withdrawn in Nov 21. Not relevant anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/16 "2022-05-05T21:51:08Z")
Just bumping my own thread because I found this today: > **[Wheat Can’t Catch a Break Right Now](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/05/india-pakistan-heatwave-wheat-economic-costs/629753/)** > > India’s giant heat wave is having ripple effects for the world’s food supply. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/17 "2022-05-09T11:33:11Z")
I would caution against looking at the absolute maximum. Thats something reached for few minutes in the middle of the afternoon. A better metric is the mean and the minimum temperature. Thats not been too much off thus far. Islamabad is about 21C and its 24C ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/18 "2022-05-09T12:06:42Z")
The Atlantic worries again: > **[The World Has No Choice but to Care About India’s Heat Wave](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/india-heat-wave-climate-change/629786/)** > > How the country meets an escalating demand for energy is a problem the whole world must reckon with. But we will see one way or the other anyway, so let’s wait. It’s good to be wrong when you are not an optimist. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/19 "2022-05-09T13:07:17Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Thats speculation territory, but India will pull through. They probably will this time but, as climate change produces more and more and more of these catastrophic events, the reserves will run out and the cumulative effects will become unbearable. When does “almost unlivable” become truly unlivable? Stay tuned because I really believe that we’re going to find out. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852/20 "2022-05-09T13:58:17Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > They probably will this time but, as climate change produces more and more and more of these catastrophic events, the reserves will run out and the cumulative effects will become unbearable That’s true for Miami and Manhattan too. Was true for New Orleans too - but they rebuilt right where the Climate scientists were saying not to. We live near Houston, and had 125 year event floods - followed by Record Freeze / Powerouts. India will be just as fine as the world overall, if anything People will fare better because they are used to hardships. > [@Jasmine](#): > > Stay tuned because I really believe that we’re going to find out. Yeah, I work on clean energy. I am very well informed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heat-wave-in-india-and-pakistan/963852.md?page=2)