North India’s cold wave has returned, bringing severe, dense fog that blinds drivers and freezing nights that are dangerous for those without shelter. This brutal weather is quietly increasing deaths, both from direct exposure and related illnesses.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been flagging persistent cold conditions across the northern belt, shaped by icy northerlies and repeated western disturbances that keep temperatures suppressed and amplify fog risk.
But the numbers that matter most are not on thermometers. India has lived through this pattern before. A Hindustan Times commentary, citing NCRB figures, notes that more than 19,000 people died due to cold waves between 1995 and 2020, a reminder that “cold wave deaths” are not freak events but a recurring public-safety failure when shelters, warnings and last-mile support don’t reach those most exposed.
In Rajasthan, police and local officials reported weather-related deaths in early January even as dense fog and cold wave conditions settled over multiple districts. The incidents reported from Jodhpur and Bharatpur came amid alerts that warned the chill and low visibility would persist.
In Uttar Pradesh, the cold has been killing in motion. On January 19, three people died and at least 17 were injured in separate fog-driven road crashes, including a head-on collision involving a state transport bus and another chain collision on a highway where visibility collapsed. And that was not an isolated day: agencies tracking the spell described a wider pattern of multi-vehicle accidents during dense fog, with dozens of crashes and significant casualties across districts.
The cruel logic of winter is that it multiplies risks: a small error becomes fatal when roads disappear into white-grey air; a delayed ambulance matters more when bodies lose heat faster; and the poorest pay first. Delhi’s winter, in particular, is a test of shelter. This month, the Delhi High Court ordered urgent temporary arrangements including using subways near big hospitals to protect homeless patients and attendants sleeping outdoors during the cold wave. Reports from the capital have described how hospital sidewalks become night-time waiting rooms, with families huddled in thin blankets as the temperature drops toward single digits.
Even indoors, the season carries a hidden hazard: unsafe heating. A string of recent incidents across Delhi, Bihar and Kashmir has been linked to space heaters and traditional braziers used in closed rooms, where poor ventilation can turn warmth into carbon monoxide poisoning or deadly fires. Doctors quoted in recent coverage have warned that the danger is not limited to “desi” coal burners; electric heating in tightly shut spaces can also be risky if households ignore ventilation and safety checks.
Hospitals, meanwhile, are seeing winter’s strain show up in other ways. In Kolkata, clinicians have reported a noticeable uptick in cardiac emergencies during the cold spell consistent with medical understanding that cold can constrict blood vessels and raise cardiovascular stress, particularly for those with hypertension or diabetes.
This winter’s headline is not just that it is cold. It is that the same groups - migrant workers, the homeless, the elderly, families camping outside hospitals remain one hard night away from becoming a statistic.
North India’s cold wave has returned, bringing severe, dense fog that blinds drivers and freezing nights that are dangerous for those without shelter. This brutal weather is quietly increasing deaths, both from direct exposure and related illnesses.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been flagging persistent cold conditions across the northern belt, shaped by icy northerlies and repeated western disturbances that keep temperatures suppressed and amplify fog risk.
But the numbers that matter most are not on thermometers. India has lived through this pattern before. A Hindustan Times commentary, citing NCRB figures, notes that more than 19,000 people died due to cold waves between 1995 and 2020, a reminder that “cold wave deaths” are not freak events but a recurring public-safety failure when shelters, warnings and last-mile support don’t reach those most exposed.
In Rajasthan, police and local officials reported weather-related deaths in early January even as dense fog and cold wave conditions settled over multiple districts. The incidents reported from Jodhpur and Bharatpur came amid alerts that warned the chill and low visibility would persist.
In Uttar Pradesh, the cold has been killing in motion. On January 19, three people died and at least 17 were injured in separate fog-driven road crashes, including a head-on collision involving a state transport bus and another chain collision on a highway where visibility collapsed. And that was not an isolated day: agencies tracking the spell described a wider pattern of multi-vehicle accidents during dense fog, with dozens of crashes and significant casualties across districts.
The cruel logic of winter is that it multiplies risks: a small error becomes fatal when roads disappear into white-grey air; a delayed ambulance matters more when bodies lose heat faster; and the poorest pay first. Delhi’s winter, in particular, is a test of shelter. This month, the Delhi High Court ordered urgent temporary arrangements including using subways near big hospitals to protect homeless patients and attendants sleeping outdoors during the cold wave. Reports from the capital have described how hospital sidewalks become night-time waiting rooms, with families huddled in thin blankets as the temperature drops toward single digits.
Even indoors, the season carries a hidden hazard: unsafe heating. A string of recent incidents across Delhi, Bihar and Kashmir has been linked to space heaters and traditional braziers used in closed rooms, where poor ventilation can turn warmth into carbon monoxide poisoning or deadly fires. Doctors quoted in recent coverage have warned that the danger is not limited to “desi” coal burners; electric heating in tightly shut spaces can also be risky if households ignore ventilation and safety checks.
Hospitals, meanwhile, are seeing winter’s strain show up in other ways. In Kolkata, clinicians have reported a noticeable uptick in cardiac emergencies during the cold spell consistent with medical understanding that cold can constrict blood vessels and raise cardiovascular stress, particularly for those with hypertension or diabetes.
This winter’s headline is not just that it is cold. It is that the same groups - migrant workers, the homeless, the elderly, families camping outside hospitals remain one hard night away from becoming a statistic.
