India hit by extreme weather on 99% of days in 2025; 4,064 dead, crops devastated across 9.47 million hectares
India was hammered by extreme weather on 99 per cent of the days between January and September 2025, the highest ever recorded, a new assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth shows. The unrelenting mix of heatwaves, lightning strikes, storms, floods, landslides and cloudbursts killed 4,064 people, damaged 9.47 million hectares of crops, destroyed 99,533 homes, and left nearly 59,000 animals dead — a toll unmatched in recent years. The year 2025 also smashed multiple 124-year climate records. January was the fifth driest since 1901; February was the warmest ever. September recorded the seventh-highest mean temperature, with minimum temperatures ranking fifth-highest since records began. At least 18 states and UTs saw their highest number of extreme weather days in four years. The seasonal pattern was equally alarming. Winter — despite being dry — saw 51 incidents of heavy rain, floods and landslides, along with the earliest heatwave days since 2022. The pre-monsoon season flipped its long-term trend: heavy rain and floods replaced hailstorms as the dominant extreme event. Heatwaves gripped 19 states, including Himalayan regions such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The monsoon was the most punishing, with extreme weather recorded on all 122 days for the fourth consecutive year, covering 35 states and UTs. State-level impact was severe. Himachal Pradesh faced extreme events on 80% of the 273 days studied — the highest in India — while Madhya Pradesh recorded the most deaths (532), followed by Andhra Pradesh (484) and Jharkhand (478). Maharashtra emerged as the biggest agricultural casualty, with 8.4 million hectares of crop damage — more than 30 times Punjab’s loss. Regionally, the northwest was hit hardest with 257 extreme weather days and 1,342 deaths, followed by central India, which endured 200 days, 1,093 deaths, and 8.42 million hectares of crop loss. The east and northeast recorded 229 days of extreme conditions. Between January and September, floods, heavy rain and landslides were the deadliest, killing 2,440 people, followed by lightning and storms, which claimed 1,456 lives. Cloudbursts led to 135 deaths, while heatwaves and even snowfall added to the toll.