A heat wave in southeast India has caused the deaths of over 1,100 people over the last week. India recorded its highest maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius — 117 degrees Fahrenheit — at Angul in the state of Odisha on Monday, according to B.P. Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department. The extreme high temperatures coupled with high humidity and limited access to power and cooling by a substantial part of the population contributed to the deaths.
The deaths may be linked to the presence of the growing El Nino, since many El Ninos are related to the late onset of the Indian monsoon rains and clouds. Here is one story on the extreme event from CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/25/asia/india-heatwave-deaths/ and a second related story from EarthSky. Since agriculture in India depends on the monsoon rainfall, this indicates that India may have problems with agriculture this year if the monsoons are weak or fail to come. The graph below related summer rainfall in India to the ENSO phase. Bloomberg also produced a story on how the El Nino may increase food prices in the Philippines due to drought.
How does the heat affect humans? EarthGauge has a brief story which describes some of the impacts of heat on human health in the United States at https://www.earthgauge.net/2015/climate-fact-hot-days-heat-waves-and-health.
