Rita grew up in a small village in Uttarakhand with mountains forming the backbone of her childhood.
In a recent call with her sister, she laughed, repeating a little rhyme they used to recite as school-going children: January mein jarjar, February mein farfar aur March mein paper (January is spent shivering, February flies away briskly and in March we have exams.) This lighthearted banter, however, is immediately followed by a concern of changing weather patterns.
“It used to be so cold in January and February. Now we don’t have the same winters anymore,” Rita said, taking off her cardigan as she felt hot on a January afternoon.
Rita is my mother, and her comments underscore the growing issues that Uttarakhand residents face as the climate changes. While my mother now lives in the suburbs, the majority of Uttarakhand’s population lives in the rural areas of the state.
Traditionally, in Uttarakhand, at any time of the day, you would witness people tending to their daily duties, which are highly dependent on nature. Women walk to fetch water from aquifers, farmers till their lands or children tend to cattle-grazing duties. However, this balance of living with nature has been shaken due to recurrent weather extremes such as cloudbursts, erratic rainfall and forest fires.
While 2024 was difficult because of extreme weather, the beginning of 2025 has the people of Uttarakhand on edge. India has witnessed another dry winter season (January- February) this year, with 89 per cent of districts suffering from deficient or no rainfall, making it the fifth-driest winter since 1901, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
“In June [2024], initially it didn’t rain, and then it rained heavily, destroying most of the yield. Snowfall has become a distant dream; we didn’t have enough winter rain, either, this time,” said Arjun Ram, a farmer from Matena village in Uttarakhand’s Almora district with four fields under his name; he has already lost one field, about 93 square meters (1,000 square feet), as the heavy rain washed away an entire field, taking lemon and orange trees with it.
Due to this continual cycle of harsh weather events, Ram was not able to grow anything in his field. He and his family cultivate for their own sustenance, and the harsh weather conditions make it harder to grow anything that will fill their own plates.
“This is the first time in years that our fields are barren. We could only keep a kitchen garden for our entire family,” Ram said.
A cycle of extreme weather events like this is often called “weather whiplash,” a pattern in which extreme weather conditions are recorded in quick succession of one another — increased maximum temperatures followed by lower temperatures, heavy rainfalls and floods transitioned into dry spells and vice versa.
This phenomenon has also become a major contributor to India’s climate risks. The Climate Risk Index 2025 ranks India among the countries most affected in the long term by recurring extreme events.
Impact on farming
Extreme weather events are costing India US$9-10 billion annually, according to a 2020 study, which noted that due to climate change, the productivity decrease of major crops could rise to as much as 10-40 per cent by 2100. Farmers across the state can notice the causes and factors that contribute to the impacts of climate change in agriculture, like the occurrence of insect pests and shifting flowering patterns of different crops.
Maan Devi Kashyap, a landless farmer, rents an acre of land for 50,000 rupees (US$584) a year in Haldwani, which is considered the plains, in the foothills of the Nainital hill area. In a corner of that land lives her family of 15 people, including her children and grandchildren and three cows. Kashyap has lost two cycles of seasonal vegetables like peas and potatoes since 2024.
“We have lost so much produce to diseases, pests and weeds. The weather has been harsh. We didn’t even get the winter rain this year, resulting in such a huge loss,” Kashyap said.
Haldwani, which has more favorable terrain than other hilly regions, is facing a quandary of issues when it comes to agriculture.
“Climate change is inducing changes in the crop pattern, quantity, quality and cost of production, changes in market responses at global and local levels, and thus, this changes the behavior of the farmer,” said Ruchita Tiwari, senior research associate in agriculture for Tata Trusts.
Tiwari mentioned that Uttarakhand has witnessed a rise of 0.46° Celsius (0.83° Fahrenheit) in mean annual temperatures between 1911 and 2011, and it continues to rise at an amplified rate of warming at higher elevations. These extreme temperatures lead to increased evaporation and evapotranspiration losses, which can cause water stress that would impact crop growth and yields, increase the susceptibility of crops to pests and diseases and increase irrigation requirements.
The increase in disruption in crop cycles has also affected other facets of life. Ram is also troubled by the thought of upcoming summers. Not just as a farmer, but as someone who only relies on natural aquifers for basic water needs.
“Because it did not snow this year or the last two years, the springs have not had the chance to recharge the water tables. The snow [usually] percolates within the ground, giving us water in summer; that hope is gone,” Ram said.
Shifting of traditional calendars
Erratic rainfall and extreme heat waves have also impacted the sowing time of the next harvest cycles. And this also affects long-standing cultural traditions.
Uttarakhand preserves its relationship with nature through festivals like Harela and Phool Dei, which mark the calendars of every household as a change in the season. In January, Uttarakhand celebrated Basant Panchami, which marks the onset of the spring season and the end of the cold winter. Many farmers also worship Mother Earth for a bountiful harvest and a successful year ahead. However, the significance of the festivals has changed with the changing weather.
With tears in her eyes, which Kashyap is quick to wipe in front of her grandchildren, she said now the importance of such festivals has become symbolic. “What is the point of celebration? Now all we do is cower in front of Mother and ask her to shower us with her blessings.”
Most of her crop is failing to even bring in the money Kashyap had invested in it. She has to spray a lot more pesticides and other chemicals to keep the weeds from growing, which has not been the most efficient strategy as of yet.
“Even the wheat that we grow now is basically mandusi weed (Phalaris minor). The field would look like it’s growing wheat, but half of it is just unusable,” Kashyap said.
This has become a prevalent issue. In 2024, Bhuvan Purohit, a farmer, from Dudholi village in Almora, came across the same issue during the festival of Harela, the “day of green,” which mostly falls in the month of July and marks the onset of monsoon season.
“On Harela, we till our lands, which helps us to get rid of the weed, but with heavy rains, the weed has taken over more aggressively, and it got harder for us to till our lands. And because of that, our crops also get damaged,” Purohit said.
During Harela, people typically plant fruit-bearing or evergreen trees like oak and rhododendron. The rhododendron is an essential tree bearing beautiful red flowers used to make different products like drinks, jams and chutneys. The Phool Dei festival, which usually falls in the early days of March, celebrates the flowering season, with trees of apricot, peach and rhododendron blooming in all their glory. However, the locals have started to see a shift in the flowering season as well, as blossoms arrive earlier than usual.
This early flowering also means exposing the new flower buds to potential hailstorms, which damage the flower, impacting the harvest.
“This year [2024], we also saw a lot more hailstorms, which bruised the fruits. This gets us a lower market price. We grow peaches, and all of them get damaged, which does not fetch the right rate in the market,” Bhuvan said.
The early flowering also impacts the pollination of these flowers. S.T.S Lepcha, chairperson of Sustainable Development Forum Uttaranchal, highlighted that due to the early flowering, the absence of migratory birds for pollination hinders the natural cycle, further exacerbating ecological disruptions.
Loss of life
These severe weather events are not only devastating to farms and biodiversity but are also causing loss of life.
In July, several forest workers were reported killed and injured while extinguishing a fire at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora district. Among them was a youth, Arun Kumar, 17, whom locals say suffered serious burn injuries and died on the spot. In all, six workers lost their lives in the incident. However, locals allege that one of the leading reasons for Kumar’s death was insufficient safety equipment and training.
“That was Dadd da’s [elder brother’s] first time helping the Forest Department,” said Dipanshu Kumar, Arun’s younger brother. “He was asked to submit our father’s Aadhaar card [identity card] earlier on. The ranger called him to join the team; we had never seen a forest fire like that.”
Dipanshu told Mongabay that no training or safety equipment had been provided to any of the victims. The chief minister of Uttarakhand announced a sum of 1 million rupees (US$11,676) to the victims’ families, which, he said, they have yet to receive. Mongabay tried contacting the authorities and is yet to receive any comments.
Manoj Sanwal, a Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary ranger, called it an unfortunate accident, rather than callousness on the part of the Forest Department. “All the injured were in the car; it was similar to what happened in Los Angeles. A sort of chimney was made due to the turn they were parked in; the wind burned the area in a flash,” Sanwal said.
On the note of safety equipment, Sanwal also mentioned how the terrain does not allow anyone to carry any heavy equipment. “Even the officers from disaster management had a hard time as compared to the locals or the officers working in such situations for a long time. We even have to take off our shoes sometimes because we can’t maintain our grip due to the slippery pine needles as well as the slopes of the hills,” Sanwal said.
In regard to payment, Sanwal said the fire watchers have been paid, however the amount announced by the chief minister is not the purview of the Forest Department.
Anand Ram, father of Arun Kumar, confirmed that he had received his pay as an employee for the months he worked with the department, but he had not received the sum announced by the chief minister.
“The member of the legislative assembly representing the ruling government, BJP, Rekha Arya, did visit us; we asked them to give a family member a post in the forest department, but nothing came of it,” Dipashu said. “My father did work for the Forest Department for four months after the tragedy but had to quit due to bad health.”
Dipanshu had to quit his education because the demise of his brother and his exams collided at the same time.
Suresh Ram, another person from the same village who worked as a fire watcher on a contract basis with the Forest Department, said he refused to work with the department again. “It is very dangerous work; it is not worth it,” he said.
Many from the village say they do not want to help the Forest Department; there are hard feelings, since the village sits next to the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and villagers are prohibited from taking any wood, including fallen branches for their stoves and personal use, Suresh said. “This leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the residents.”
Domino effect
Although extreme weather and climate change pose significant dangers to agriculture and human life, most every industry and livelihood in the hills also suffers. Uttarakhand is and has been a tourist industry hub with a huge push from the government to increase employment by opening homestays in rural areas. However, many homestay owners also feel frustrated by many factors.
Andrea Mamgain, whose father is from Dehradun, capital of Uttarakhand, and whose mother is from the state of Manipur in the northeast, runs a homestay and eatery in Maat village, Almora, by the name Mat Homestead, which she runs with her business partner, Pradyumn Rautela. The homestay serves delicacies of Manipur.
“I always had the plan to open a Northeast cafe, food that I was born with, and now it’s nowhere to be found,” Mamgain said. I wanted to own a small farm where I can grow my local herbs.”
She said Almora’s terrain, which is quite similar to Manipur, helped her to grow local and seasonal vegetables for almost two years since 2023. But she is suffering the impacts of extreme heat and erratic rainfall.
“The heat last year was harsh, which I did not anticipate. And although there are no fans in my homestay or, matter of fact, at any house in this village, this year everyone felt the requirement for a fan,” she said.
This change in weather also affects the tourists coming to these places as guests. And while Maat village grows the most vegetables in the region, everyone there has had a distressing time. While Mamgain was able to sustain her farm, she attributed her success to her roots and the gardening skills passed down by her mother, highlighting the value of knowledge in adapting to climate change.
It’s knowledge that many women of Uttarakhand share, gained through years of experience. And likewise, these women also share deep concerns about the changing weather.
These sentiments are shared among women across the region, from Maan Devi Kashyap, whose family entirely depends on the land and the weather, and she has nothing but hope to hold on to for a bountiful harvest; to my mother, Rita, who worries about her garden every day, preparing herself and her little plot of land for the upcoming heat wave — yet again.
This story was published with permission from Mongabay.com.
