Extreme weather occurs when a weather event deviates greatly from normal weather trends. For instance, consider flash floods and tornadoes. According to a recent research on the paper “Preparing India for Extreme Climate Events” produced by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), more than 75 percent of Indian districts are hotspots of extreme climate events such as cyclones, floods, droughts, heat waves, and cold waves.

Reasons

• Excessive Temperature: The Earth’s temperature is rising every year, and the combination of rising temperatures with extreme sunlight causes a low-pressure system. As a result, hurricanes and other tropical storms are able to form.
• Improper Weather Systems: The weather systems (such as air masses, fronts, and so on) continue to move in a suitable manner, which aids in the smoother maintenance of weather conditions. When the meteorological conditions collide with any disruption in the middle, calamities occur.
• Climate Change: Over the last few decades, the global temperature has risen dramatically and continues to fluctuate year after year. The amount of CO2 is one of the major causes of the Earth’s temperature rise. As the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, so does the temperature of the Earth.
• High Atmospheric Winds: The jet stream is formed when frigid air from the Earth’s poles collides with warm tropical air. These winds contribute to the continuation and control of the weather system from west to east in the northern hemisphere and east to west in the southern hemisphere. These winds can sometimes bring with them bad weather, which can result in the creation of a tornado. 

Extreme weather events and food inflation

• Prices of seasonal vegetables jumped unprecedentedly in many states. And this was due to extreme weather events; and this trend is not limited to India.
• Extreme weather events had damaged crops, leading to a collapse of the supply of vegetables at a time of the year when they usually flood the markets.
• The current global food inflation is driven predominantly by wheat, which reported price rise due to drought and high temperature in major producing countries. In 2021, as various trade reports show, spring wheat production declined by 40 per cent in the United States. Russia, the world’s largest exporter of wheat, also harvested less and has now imposed a tax on wheat export to ensure ample stock for domestic consumption.

Non-profit Oxfam simulated the impact of adverse climatic conditions on food price. Its estimates in 2012 show the average world market export price for wheat would rise by 120 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010; the figures for processed rice is 107 per cent and for maize is 177 per cent. The fact is by changing the rain and its distribution, climate change is altering the very axis of agriculture.

How to structure

1. Give an intro about extreme weather events, give them examples and mark them in a map
2. Explain how these events are causing food inflation , substantiate with examples
3. Mention the after effects of such incidents on the general public, economy and health.
4. Suggest way forward
5. Conclude

Reference:

1. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/climate-and-food-price-rise-extreme-weather-events-triggering-unprecedented-food-inflation-81300