This study presents the first high-resolution Regional Climate Model 5 (RegCM5) analysis of the unprecedented May-June 2024 heatwave in India, evaluating the role of absorbing aerosols-black carbon (BC) and dust-in amplifying extreme heat. Heatwaves have a severe impact on health, mortality, and agriculture, with absorbing aerosols exacerbating warming. MERRA-2 Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) anomalies show that BC peaked at +0.027 in May, weakening in June, while dust remained higher (up to +0.36), intensifying over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and northwestern India. RegCM5 simulations, validated against India Meteorological Department (IMD) observational data, indicate that these aerosols amplified surface temperature anomalies, with BC-induced warming exceeding +4 degrees C in northern India during May, while dust produced stronger anomalies, surpassing +5 degrees C in the IGP and Rajasthan in June. BC-induced warming was vertically distributed and more pronounced under clear skies, whereas dust-induced warming was surface-concentrated and persisted longer in regions with higher dust concentrations. Both aerosols increased net shortwave radiation (SWR; >300 W m(-2) for BC, similar to 270 W m(-2) for dust) and upward longwave radiation (ULR; >130 W m(-2)), inducing surface energy imbalances. This radiative forcing caused lower-tropospheric warming (up to +3 degrees C at 925 hPa for BC and 850 hPa for dust) and humidity deficits (-0.009 kg/kg), which stabilised the atmosphere, suppressed convection, and delayed monsoon onset. These findings highlight aerosol-radiation interactions as critical drivers of heatwave onset and persistence, emphasizing the need for their integration into regional climate models and early warning systems.

Heat waves in India during the pre-monsoon months have significant impacts on human health, productivity and mortality. While greenhouse gas-induced global warming is believed to accentuate high temperature extremes, anthropogenic aerosols predominantly constituted by radiation-scattering sulfate are believed to cause an overall cooling in most world regions. However, the Indian region is marked by an abundance of absorbing aerosols, such as black carbon (BC) and dust. The goal of this work was to understand the association between aerosols, particularly those that are absorbing in nature, and high-temperature extremes in north-central India during the pre-monsoon season. We use 30-year simulations from a chemistry-coupled atmosphere-only general circulation model (GCM), ECHAM6-HAM2, forced with evolving aerosol emissions in an interactive aerosol module, along with observed evolving SSTs. A composite of high-temperature extremes in the model simulations, compared to climatology, shows large-scale conditions conducive to heat waves. Importantly, it reveals concurrent positive anomalies of BC and dust aerosol optical depths. Changes in near-surface properties include a reduction in single scattering albedo (implying greater absorption) and enhancement in short-wave heating rate, compared to climatological conditions. Alterations in surface energy balance include reduced latent heat flux, but increased sensible heat flux, consistent with enhanced temperatures. Thus, chemistry-coupled GCM simulations capture an association of absorbing aerosols with high-temperature extremes in north India, arising from radiative heating in the surface layer.