Seasons have always served as the guiding compass for human civilisation. They determine when crops are grown, when festivals are celebrated, and how communities survive and adapt. But this compass is now faltering. The Earth is entering a new climate regime, with its atmosphere saturated with greenhouse gases at levels never experienced in human history. The earliest sign of this shift is the gradual loss of distinct seasons. Instead of transitioning smoothly from one to another, they are blending into a turbulent cycle of unseasonal and extreme weather.
Nearly 1,500 Days Of Continuous Weather Tracking Reveal A Disturbing Pattern
Since 2022, the Centre for Science and Environment and Down To Earth have tracked extreme weather events across the country to understand the scale of this shift. Their team carefully examined daily bulletins from the India Meteorological Department, the disaster management division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, state disaster agencies and newspapers across India until September 30 this year. The result of this nearly 1,500-day analysis is a new climate atlas for India. It shows a weather pattern that no longer aligns with traditional seasonal cycles or the geographical zones associated with different types of weather.
For 1,227 days, India recorded at least one extreme weather event every single day. Cold spells, heatwaves, cloudbursts, heavy rainfall, storms and floods that were once considered rare or once-in-many-decades events have now become frequent and widespread. Cloudbursts have struck Chennai. Floods have appeared in the deserts of Rajasthan and in Leh. Hill stations have reported record-high temperatures. The rhythm of seasons has frayed.
Heatwaves have swept through January and February. Monsoon-like rain has stretched into November. Crop cycles have flattened due to erratic rainfall and temperature changes. Winter minimum temperatures now resemble early summer in many regions. The Himalayan region is reporting above-normal temperatures throughout the year.
Every State And Union Territory Reports Extreme Weather In 2025
The annual Climate India report by the Centre for Science and Environment and Down To Earth highlights that January to September 2025 is the first time in four years when extreme weather struck India nearly every day. It is also the first time that all states and Union territories reported such events. In 2023, only six states and Union territories had extreme weather occurrences. From February to September 2025, for eight consecutive months, as many as thirty or more states and Union territories faced extreme weather conditions.
The blurring of seasonality becomes clearer in the data. India experienced extreme weather on fifty-seven out of fifty-nine winter days during January and February 2025. These included three heatwaves, fifty-one days of heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides, and twenty-six days of cold waves. Between March and May, which are considered pre-monsoon months, the country recorded eighty-six days of heavy rainfall, floods and landslides. This is a major departure from earlier years when hailstorms were the most common pre-monsoon event. The monsoon season is becoming increasingly deadly for both people and crops, even as it paradoxically reports more heatwaves during the same period.
Shifts In Daily Life As Seasons Become Unpredictable
These climatic shifts are already shaping everyday life across India. Farmers are altering their cropping calendars and many are skipping the month of June for sowing kharif crops due to unpredictable rainfall. Schools and colleges in several states are declaring summer holidays as early as late March because of soaring temperatures. More states are shutting educational institutions in October and the post-monsoon months due to heavy rainfall. The flowering and fruiting cycles of many trees have changed, showing how ecosystems are responding to the altered climate.
A Turning Point In Human Existence
Scientific evidence has long established that human migration out of Africa was influenced by shifts in climate. For nearly twelve thousand years, human civilisation has flourished in a period of stable, predictable seasonal cycles. That stability is now disappearing. The current climate phase is different—faster, more intense and increasingly unpredictable. These changes are threatening the ecological, agricultural, economic and social foundations on which human societies depend.
India’s seasons are no longer markers of time or tradition. They are becoming warnings of a climate in rapid transformation.