Asia sweats and simmers under heat wave conditions
NEW DELHI, APRIL 19: From India to southern China to Thailand, stifling heat has set in unusually early this year, Axios reports.
On Monday, Prayagraj in India reached 44.6°C (112.3°F). Bangladesh also saw temperatures exceeding the 40°C mark, with climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera warning, “It will just get worse,” the report added.
The Guardian quoted Maximiliano Herrera as describing the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.
Six cities in north and east India recorded temperatures above 44C while the capital, Delhi, recorded 40.4C on Tuesday. The heatwave is expected to continue till at least Friday, The Guardian report said.
In Bangladesh, a country at the forefront of the climate crisis, temperatures soared above 40C in the capital, Dhaka, on Saturday, the hottest day in 58 years, causing road surfaces to melt. An official from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change said that if the heat did not abate, they would declare a temperature emergency in certain areas, the report added.
The CNN also quoted Herrera, this time about the weather in Thailand. He has said that over the weekend, Thailand topped 45°C (113°F) for the first time in its history, he said using data from the Thai Meteorological Department. The northwest city of Tak reached 45.4°C Saturday, but large portions of the country have been in the upper 30s to low 40s since late March.
On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha expressed concern over “dangerously high temperatures in various parts of Thailand” and said in Bangkok’s Bang Na area, temperatures “could reach 52.3°C,” according to a statement from the prime ministers office, the CNN reports.
Neighboring Myanmar set an April temperature record on Monday as Kalewa, in central Sagaing region, reached 44°C (111°F), Herrera tweeted.
April and May are typically the hottest months of the year for South and Southeast Asia as temperatures rise before monsoon rains begin and bring some relief.
But the heat in Thailand has been compounded by an intense smoggy season that has caused pollution levels to spike, the CNN report said.
In China, temperatures have exceeded 35°C (95°F) in multiple provinces; on Monday, more than 100 weather stations broke their monthly high temperature records. Heat records fell in a dozen Chinese provinces, Axios added.
