Warming up to Bangalore
Maya Aviva Saldanha and Sidhaesh Agarwal
Class 8, Mallya Aditi International School, Bengaluru
The weather of Bangalore has changed over the last couple of decades. We no longer recognize the Bangalore of the 70’s and 80’s with its cold winters, pleasant summers and light monsoons. This year’s summer had hotter summer days, followed by an erratic monsoon, similar to those of the previous years.
Our monsoon consisted of heavy rains, that sometimes even reached upto 30 mm in one downpour, rapid temperature drops, and unpredictable weather.
Our hypothesis is that human-induced factors such as excess pollution are causing global warming which is effecting our weather.
People have the wrong impression that the weather patterns in Bangalore have dramatically changed. We think otherwise: that the change has actually been a subtle one. In the words of Pavan Shrinath (Takshashila institution), “It is pertinent to note that temperatures are rising faster in Bangalore than the global average. Minimum temperatures in the city have increased by about 1.32 degrees Celsius over the last hundred years (± 0.11°C).”
The change in our weather is clearly due to global warming, the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, and other pollutants.The sea level has risen higher and faster over the last century. Although this doesn’t directly affect us, it is another factor that has influenced our warmer climate along with El Niño.
We collected data of this year from various online sources and apps such as wunderground and accuweather, and could clearly see that our weather patterns are changing. Through a survey we conducted in our neighbourhood, we found out that some citizens of Bangalore have also felt this change, some more gradually than others.
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