Wet-Bulb Temperature: The Heat Number India Must Watch

When an Indian summer makes headlines, the number everyone repeats is the air temperature: 44°C in Delhi, 47°C in Nagpur, 48°C somewhere in Rajasthan.

This is not an abstract climate-science term.

What wet-bulb temperature actually measures

Imagine wrapping the bulb of a thermometer in a wet cloth and spinning it through the air.

This is why coastal and riverine India — Mumbai, Kolkata, coastal Andhra and Odisha, the lower Gangetic belt — can be more physiologically dangerous at a "lower" temperature than t