Meghalaya saw extreme weather on 91 days in 2026, 23 deaths: CSE

Meghalaya was hit by extreme weather on 91 days between January and September 2026, and 23 people died in those events, according to Climate India 2026: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events, a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth magazine, Hub News reported on Sunday.

The assessment also recorded damage to 127 hectares of cropped land and 38 houses in the state, and the loss of 511 livestock, over the nine-month period.

Fewer days than 2025, but well above 2022

The state-wise figures show how the number of extreme weather days in Meghalaya has moved over five years in the same January-to-September window: 60 days in 2022, 58 in 2023, 93 in 2024 and 109 in 2025. The 2026 count of 91 is lower than last year's but still far higher than in 2022 and 2023.

Heavy rain, floods and landslides are the main risks in the state, where steep slopes and very high rainfall make roads and hillside settlements vulnerable.

How the North East compares

Across the East and North East region, extreme weather was recorded on 219 days in the first nine months of 2026, with 861 deaths and about 0.34 million hectares of crops affected, the report says. Assam had the most extreme weather days in the region at 164, followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 94 and Meghalaya at 91. The share of days with such events in the region rose from 63 per cent in 2022 to 80 per cent in 2026.

Nationally, the report, released on November 4, found extreme weather somewhere in India on 251 of the 273 days from January 1 to September 30, or about 92 per cent of the period. Over the five-year assessment window, Assam ranked fifth among all states with 526 extreme weather days, Northeast Now reported earlier.

Gaps in disaster data

The report counts lightning and storms, heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, heatwaves, cold waves and other events. Its loss figures draw on the India Meteorological Department, the Disaster Management Division of the Union Home Ministry and media reports.

CSE and Down To Earth caution that official loss data is incomplete because states do not report it regularly, and that pre-monsoon crop losses are often not counted at all. The real damage may therefore be higher than the figures suggest. The authors have called for fuller and more consistent records, including the number of people affected, to help states plan for disasters.