45°C in Thailand, 44°C in India, 38°C in China…Asia is already a furnace – Liberation

The warmest season has not yet begun, with several temperature records already broken from Central Asia to Southeast Asia. Global warming is making heat waves more frequent, more intense and earlier.

After 2022, much of the Asian continent will again suffocate under a heat wave in April 2023. Even as the continent enters its hottest season, temperatures are more extreme and early.

Thailand has recorded a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius for the first time in its history. On April 15, 45.4 degrees Celsius was measured at the dockA province in the northwest of the country and bordering Burma, according to data from the Thailand Meteorological Department. The previous record was 44.6 degrees Celsius in 2016 in nearby Mae Hong Son.

In Southeast Asia, Laos recorded 41.6 degrees Celsius in mid-April. In Bangladesh, Isurdi in the central-west of the country recorded 43 degrees Celsius. Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme weather events around the world, said on Twitter that the April record was equal to that of 1963, 1980 and 1995. Burma is also suffocating at 44 degrees Celsius in Galewa in the north. Registration for April.

Ditto in Central Asia, Turkmenistan also set a heat record for April: 42.2 °C was measured in Uch-Adji, in the east of the country, notes British meteorologist Scott Duncan on Twitter. With 38.1°C in Uzbekistan, 35.1°C in Kazakhstan (including 33.6°C in the Taraz highlands, a record for April) and 35°C in Tajikistan, the heat wave is spreading across much of Central Asia.

“It is not only hot during the day, the highest night temperature is also recorded. At night, the temperature does not drop below 28°C.Meteorologist Scott Duncan says.

6,500 people die of heatstroke in India

In India and Pakistan, temperatures have yet to reach deadly levels in late April 2022, when both countries suffocate below 50°C, with humidity levels barely allowing human bodies to cool down. However, northwest India and Pakistan recorded temperatures above 40°C for several consecutive days, about 5°C above the seasonal average. 44.6 °C especially in Prayagraj in Northeast India.

This Monday, Indian authorities announced that eleven people had died of “heat stroke” at an awards ceremony attended by about a million people in full sun. Since 2010, heat waves have killed more than 6,500 people in India. These hellish temperatures are expected to continue throughout the week.

The Indian giant’s tiny neighbor, Nepal, has also recorded temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius in recent days. The country’s monthly records are likely to be broken in the coming days. Even the high plateaus of Mongolia have reached a maximum temperature of 27 °C, still notes Maximiliano Herrera.

In China, the Mengla weather station measured a monthly record: 38.2°C. Several Chinese provinces exceeded 35°C, such as Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou, where temperatures all exceeded 37°C. Wufeng in Hubei province recorded its hottest April day ever, at 37C.

According to IPCC experts, extreme heat waves are increasing worldwide. The impact of human activities on the climate makes heat waves more frequent, more intense, and earlier in the year. Scientists explain that the probability of occurrence of unprecedented and more extreme events increases with every tenth step of global warming. Therefore, at +2°C, “1.7 billion additional people will be exposed to extreme heat, 420 million to extreme heat and 65 million to exceptional heat waves every five years”, Climate scientists are panicking.