As of this year, at least 907 people have perished in India due to lightning, a figure tied to the shifting climate patterns driven by the climate crisis. The surge in such events underscores how extreme weather is reshaping risk for communities across the country.
Lightning strikes are among the most deadly phenomena connected to climate disasters. In India, the report presented to Parliament this week by the Ministry of Science shows 907 deaths attributed to lightning in 2022, highlighting a growing hazard within the broader climate vulnerability profile.
More than 40% of the 2,183 weather-related fatalities recorded this year were caused by lightning, according to official calculations. This share signals a substantial uptick in lightning incidents relative to other climate-related calamities.
The data reveal a pronounced year-over-year rise: 907 deaths this year compared with 640 last year and 240 the year before. The trend reflects an acceleration in storm intensity and frequency, with lightning becoming a leading killer in weather events.
Deaths have often followed other climate-related catastrophes, including floods and heavy rainfall, which accounted for 804 fatalities, and electrical storms which contributed 371 deaths.
Heat waves also dominated the seasonal narrative. The period from April to June saw temperatures rise sharply, with many regions experiencing conditions well beyond historical norms as reported by the ministry. These anomalies map onto a broader pattern of unusually hot conditions across the country.
Punjab, which previously averaged two heatwave days in 2021, faced an average of 24 days with high temperatures this year, a shift echoed across multiple states. In New Delhi, heatwaves averaged 17 days, far above the three-day average recorded in 2021.
This year has seen temperatures spike to record highs far earlier than expected and to linger longer than usual. March marked the warmest month on record, underscoring the persistence of heat across the nation.
The World Weather Attribution initiative, gathering climate scientists from institutions worldwide, concluded in a mid-year report that the climate crisis makes deadly early heat events up to thirty times more likely in India. A World Bank assessment released today argues that India could soon be among the first places where heatwaves push human survivability to the edge.
Experts cited in the World Bank report connect this year’s heat with the ongoing trend of rising temperatures across South Asia, reinforcing concerns about future extreme heat exposure. Drawing on the G20 Atlas of Climate Risk, researchers warned that heat waves in India may last 25 times longer by 2036–2065 if carbon emissions remain high.