Analysis of extreme weather events over Pune district of western Maharashtra using RClimDex model

An investigation was carried out during 2021-2023 at Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture, Pune entitled “Analysis of extreme weather events of Western Maharashtra using RclimDex model” to estimate the temperature and precipitation based extreme indices of Pune district from Western Maharashtra region. The data required was collected from the website of India Meteorological Department (IMD, Pune). The Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices has identified 27 core indices based on daily temperature and daily precipitation data which were actively used in this study. The extreme temperature and precipitation-based indices were calculated by using RClimDex model. The changes that occur in the frequency of extreme weather events are considered an indicator of climatic variability. When considering the extreme weather events of Pune district out of total 19 temperature based extreme indices 8 indices showed decreasing trend while 9 indices showed an increasing trend whereas two indices viz. number of frost days (FD0) and number of ice days (ID0) were not observed in the study region. The analysis of weather data during the years 1982-2022 (40 years data) showed variability in climatic conditions among various districts of Western Maharashtra region. The outcomes of the present investigation can be considered as an evidence for climate change over the study area. Thus, this study was carried out with the view to analyse historical data on climatic variables, study regional variations in frequency and intensity of extreme events and comprehend climatic characteristics for the region.