Vietnam reaches 44.2 degrees Celsius and breaks heat record for second day in a row
Vietnam on Sunday broke its all-time record high temperature for the second consecutive day by reaching 44.2 degrees in the north of the country, a tenth higher than the previous all-time high recorded the day before, the Vietnamese meteorological service reported Monday.
The new record of 44.2 degrees was reached in Tuong Duong locality of Nghe An province, near Thanh Hoa province where it reached 44.1 degrees on Saturday and surpassed the record of 43.4 degrees that since 2019 was listed as the highest temperature ever reached in the Asian country.
These extreme temperatures are due to a heat wave that has shaken the central and northern parts of the country since Friday and exacerbated the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which is causing higher than usual heat in the country and across Southeast Asia.
Neighboring Laos also saw a record high temperature on Saturday: 43.5 degrees in the tourist town of Luang Prabang, a degree and a half higher than the previous record of 42 degrees reached in May 2019, according to climatologist and climate historian Maximiliano Herrera.
Extreme Heatwave in Asia: Experts Warn of Unprecedented Temperature Records
Herrera highlighted on his Twitter account, Extreme Temperatures Around the World, that in the last seven weeks “records have been broken almost daily at dozens of weather stations in an area of millions of square kilometers in Asia.”
For the expert, this extreme and persistent heat is “the most extreme, extensive and longest heat record” that the world has ever experienced in a tropical area.
Thailand is also experiencing unusual heat that has shattered several temperature records, the last of them this Sunday, with 41 degrees in Bangkok, the maximum reached in the capital since records have been kept.
The highest in the country was exceeded last April 15, with 45.4 degrees in Tak province, the first time the mercury rose above 45 degrees.
Also in Burma, thermometers in April exceeded 45 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature in a decade, but without surpassing the 47.2 degrees marked in 2010.