Srinagar, Aug. 18 -- It was on August 14 that the tragedy struck Chisoti village, leveling a makeshift market, a community kitchen for pilgrims, and a security outpost near the Machail Mata shrine. The dead included security personnel on duty, something that highlights the fury of nature, sparing not even trained men. Omar Abdullah, the J&K Chief Minister, has promised an inquiry into whether warnings from the Meteorological Department were adequately acted upon, a question that must be answered honestly.

But accountability alone will not shield us from the changing reality of the mountains. The numbers tell their own story. A recent study published by the India Meteorological Department's journal, Mausam, records 2,863 extreme weather e...