The summer of 2024 will be the craziest in Asia's history

It's still spring in early 2024, but hundreds of millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are already facing scorching temperatures. The summer heat came too early, setting records and even claiming many lives. Not stopping there, this summer is forecast to be much worse throughout May and June, according to CBS News .

In early May, intense heat waves caused dozens of deaths across the region. Thousands of schools were forced to close weeks before the summer break.

Scientists warn of widespread impacts in some of the world's most populous regions, and call on governments to take immediate action to prepare for the impact of climate change and Human-caused global warming.

The summer heat came too early, setting records and even claiming many lives. (Illustration).

What is happening?

Some parts of India recorded maximum temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius last month. On April 21, people in the eastern city of Bhagdora also had to endure heat up to 46 degrees Celsius.

On April 29, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a "red alert" for the eastern and southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha, where temperatures have skyrocketed since mid-April. IMD warns that the heat wave is likely to get worse in the near future.

At least two people died in the southern state of Kerala due to suspected heatstroke over the weekend. Two other deaths were attributed to heatwaves in the state of Odisha in early April.

Authorities in neighboring Bangladesh were forced to close all schools twice in the past two weeks due to the heat and temperatures soaring to nearly 43 degrees Celsius.

 

Railway workers spray water on warped tracks due to heat in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, southern Thailand. (Photo: State Railway of Thailand).

Some areas in Myanmar have recorded record high temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius. The actual temperature perception - which takes into account humidity, wind speed and other factors - could be even greater.

In the Philippines, thousands of schools closed as large areas of the country experienced drought and temperatures reached 44 degrees Celsius in early April.

And in Thailand , the government has urged people to stay indoors when possible, after 30 deaths were attributed to heatstroke this year. In Bangkok, authorities said the heat index on May 2 was "extremely dangerous".

"Thousands of records are being destroyed across Asia, this is the most extreme event in world climate history," weather historian Maximiliano Herrera said in a social media post last week. .

What is the real cause?

Scientists differ on the impact of the ongoing El Nino weather phenomenon , but many believe that temporary warming in the central Pacific has changed weather patterns worldwide. world for many years. This has made things worse this summer in South and Southeast Asia.

Professor Raghu Murtugudde, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai, said: "I think it is a combination of El Nino, global warming and seasonality . El Nino is turning into La Nina . This is the time when maximum warming occurs in the Indian Ocean".

Murtugudde noted that the El Nino phenomenon has been forming since March 2023, so last year's heat waves were also caused by a combination of global warming, El Nino and the annual cycle, but he said This year is even worse due to the shift to La Nina.

El Nino is the term used to refer to the unusual warming of surface ocean water in the central equatorial region and the Eastern Pacific Ocean. La Nina is a phenomenon in which the sea surface layer in the above area becomes unusually cold.

Heat waves hit Southeast Asian countries. (Photo: Windy, Accuweather).

However, not all climate scientists agree on the impact of El Nino.

"We saw heatwaves last year and it was not due to El Nino," said Professor Krishna AchutaRao, a scientist at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Last year, severe heat waves killed more than 100 people in India and Pakistan alone in April and May, again destroying crops and affecting millions.

"Like this year, last year the heat wave extended from parts of India to Bangladesh and Myanmar, then all the way to Thailand. This year it spread further east, to the Philippines. I don't believe El Nino is the cause." " , said AchutaRao.

However, most experts agree that climate change is one of the main causes of the devastating heat wave hitting Asia.

AchutaRao, along with other scientists working with World Weather Attribution, compiled and analyzed data on last year's heat waves in the region and dozens of natural disasters that occurred in Laos and Thailand. . The team "concluded that such extreme weather events could not have occurred without climate change".

Ko Barrett, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, said last month: "Climate change is exacerbating the frequency and severity of such events, profoundly affecting society." society, the economy and most importantly human life and the environment in which we live."

Who suffers the most damage?

Murtugudde said that around the world, countries have tried to manage the impact of extreme weather events through early warning and advisory systems, but Asia's large and poor populations will have to suffer the severe consequences of heat waves.

The heat could continue to cause widespread crop damage, further impacting the lives of farmers who have faced increasing challenges in recent years.

Many places restrict outdoor activities to prevent deaths during extreme heat waves, which disproportionately impact manual workers in the construction sector - a huge part of developing economies. growing rapidly in Asia.

Scientists and environmental activists around the world have continuously called on countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, warning that this is the only way to slow down the pace of global warming. Until that happens, experts fear the death toll will continue to rise and millions of people will face a dire decision during each heat wave: Work in dangerous conditions or sleep with hungry stomach.