Asia remains in the grip of a blistering heat wave, chiming with predictions from climate scientists that 2023 could be the world’s hottest year.
An emerging El Nino weather pattern is pushing temperatures to unprecedented levels in southern parts of the continent.
Vietnam reported its highest ever temperature of 44.2C over the weekend, triggering power shortage warnings, while Laos also likely broke records. The Philippines cut classroom hours after the heat index -- the level of heat and humidity -- reached the potentially deadly “danger” zone.
The scorching temperatures follow a pattern of increasing extreme weather in recent years.
Temperatures in Thailand remained above 40C in many northern and central regions over much of last week, pushing power demand to a fresh peak. A group of businesses and banks have asked the government to prepare an action plan to deal with a potential drought that they say might last for three years.
Rainfall in Malaysia may be as much as 40% lower in some areas, which could put palm oil production at risk in one of the world’s biggest producers of the commodity. Authorities are closely monitoring the return of forest fires and air pollution. An El Nino in 2015 caused haze that was one of the worst environmental disasters in Southeast Asia.
Elsewhere in Asia, scorching temperatures have also roasted parts of China, India and Bangladesh over the past few weeks. India is on alert for more heat waves following soaring temperatures in April that prompted school closures in some states and caused at least 11 people to die of heatstroke after attending an event.
