Spatio-Temporal Variability of Temperature and Rainfall in a Rapidly Urbanising City: Evidence from Hyderabad (20002024)

Temperature and the rainfall data are the most sensitive indicators of climate variability. In the regions mainly of rapid urbanization where land atmosphere interactions are increasingly modified by anthropogenic processes. This study examines a long term variability and trends in annual maximum temperature, minimum temperature, diurnal temperature range and rainfall in Hyderabad for the period 2000-2024. Annual temperature and rainfall data are being analysed by using the time series analysis, linear trend and anomaly analysis, Mann Kendall test, Sen’s slope estimator and moving average techniques. Results indicate that there is a consistent increase in the minimum temperatures accompanied by a marginal decline in the maximum temperatures. It also led to the pronounce reduction in diurnal temperature range in the region. Rainfall analysis reveals a weak long term trend but strong interannual variability and increasing frequency of extreme wet and dry years particularly after 2010. The findings are highlighting a transition towards an urban climate regime which is dominated by a nocturnal warming and episodic rainfall extremes. This analysis is highlighting implications for the thermal comfort, water resource management and urban climate resilience.