New Delhi, April 5 -- Climate Change & You' is a fortnightly newsletter by Bibek Bhattacharya and Sayantan Bera. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox.

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Even a few years ago, it would have seemed ridiculous to suggest that Delhi might hit a daytime high of 40 degrees Celsius in late March. The climate crisis, though, has a way of turning even the most unthinkable weather phenomena into the new normal. And so it came to pass that on 26 March, Delhi touched a scorching 40.5 degrees Celsius. It was a seasonal high, beating the heat record from just the previous day-that of 37.1 degrees Celsius.

The daytime temperature on the 26th was 6.3 degrees Celsius above normal for this time of the year,...