A recent research study on long-term meteorological data mainly focused on rainfall and temperature pattern of Guwahati, the largest city and gateway of North Eastern States of India.
The research study shows the changing weather patterns in the past 50 years. The research paper entitled “Trend Analysis of Long-Term Meteorological Data of a Growing Metropolitan City in the Era of Global Climate Change” the research paper authored by researchers group as Sayantan Haldar from Kolkata, Researcher and Environmentalist Moharana Choudhury of Environmental Research and Management Division, Voice of Environment (VoE), Guwahati Assam, Santanu Choudhury of Climate Research & Services, India Meteorological Department, Pune, Maharashtra, and Dr Palas Samanta from Department of Environmental Science, Sukanta Mahavidyalaya, University of North Bengal, Dhupguri.
The article was published in the international journal Total Environment Research Themes (Elsevier), which highlighted meteorological, time series data (1970-2019) of Guwahati city and employed statistical tests and models to analyze the trends and make predictions for the next upcoming 10 years.
The findings significantly indicated a decline in precipitation during winter and monsoon months, while pre-monsoon and post-monsoon months exhibit upward trends in rainfall. The annual trend also shows a significant decrease in rainfall over the study period, with a decline of 4.95 mm per year, amounting to a total drop of 245.5 mm over 50 years. These results are consistent with a previous study conducted in Ranchi, India, which also found a decline in monsoon rainfall. The study further examines the monthly precipitation trends, with July showing the steepest decline, and March, April, May, September, and October experienced increased rainfall. The kurtosis and skewness values analysis suggests that the rainfall data during monsoon and post-monsoon months have lower variability than in other seasons. The study reveals increased maximum and minimum temperatures throughout the year and across seasons. The highest temperatures are observed during the monsoon season, followed by the post-monsoon and pre-monsoon periods. The winter season exhibits the lowest temperatures.
The results support an earlier study from Dibrugarh, Assam, which noted an upward trend in maximum and lowest temperatures. Overall, the study sheds light on how Guwahati’s temperature and rainfall patterns have changed over the past 50 years and offer information on regional climate trends. According to the research study’s authors, these results are crucial for helping policymakers and researchers comprehend and lessen the potential effects of climate change and climate scenarios at both the regional and global levels. The researchers are grateful to Climate Research & Services, India Meteorological Department, Pune, for supplying the necessary raw data for the study and Voice of Environment (A Scientific and Environmental Research Organization) for overall support for this research study initiative. Researcher and Environmentalist Moharana Choudhury said this research study will give light on global and regional climatological aspects and also looking forward for more such research collaboration for extensive study on climate change.