This summer in Kashmir Valley, one of the world’s coldest regions, has been unlike any before. Many days in June and July have surpassed their previous temperature records. And on July 5, Srinagar recorded a sweltering 37.4 degrees Celsius – the highest temperature in the city in 70 years. The people not used to this heat struggled to cope. The affluent class made a beeline for ACs. So much so that, according to media reports, even the sales broke their previous records. 

“Amid the rising heatwave, the fans offered little relief, so I went to buy an AC, but it took me days to find one,” said Mohammad Ayub, a retired government employee. “Many shopkeepers said the  item was sold out due to high demand.” 

The heatwave has awakened people to the creeping spectre of climate change. The valley’s summer is known for its moderate weather, which draws thousands of holidaymakers from mainland India seeking to escape scorching heat. So, a heatwave-ridden summer threatens Valley’s tourism, one of the mainstays of its economy that forms 6.8 percent of its GDP and employs over two million people. 

However, the troubling aspect of this hot summer is that it is not a one-off, but part of a new climate pattern. And this is not just about summer but winter, spring and autumn too. Beginning with last winter, Kashmir has seen noticeably less snowfall and rain. Over the past 28 years, nine winters in the valley have gone by with little or no snow, and three of those were in just the last decade.  What is more, the warmer winters and the hotter summers have hastened the thawing of thousands of its glaciers including the largest of them, Kolahoi which has shrunk by 23 percent in the past six years. 

This is reducing the discharge in the region’s rivers and streams. The fallout of this impending water scarcity, however, is not limited to Kashmir and the country alone but can also impact the broader region as these rivers cross the borders.  

What explains this sudden rise in temperature in Kashmir during both winter and summer?  Of course, the climate change over the world is now disrupting the pattern of seasons in Kashmir too. This year, due to a drier winter, the valley saw the early bloom of narcissus and tulips, otherwise the harbingers of spring.  

Not just Kashmir, other cold regions in the world are also experiencing sharp rise in temperatures. According to a media report, Egilsstaðir Airport in Iceland recorded its highest May temperature of 26.6°C, while regions of the country saw temperatures more than 10°C above average. Similarly, the Ittoqqortoormiit station in Greenland saw temperatures reach 14.3°C on May 19, 13°C above the May average daily maximum temperature of 0.8°C. 

What it shows is that going forward, heatwaves could become the norm rather than the exception. That is if the world doesn’t urgently wake up to its causes and address them. And the Global North, which is largely responsible for the climate change, should take the lead in ameliorating the factors that triggered the crisis in the first place. 

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