Climate change: Vietnam records the highest temperature in years

Meanwhile, Myanmar media reported that a township in the east recorded 43.8 degrees Celsius, the hottest temperature in a decade.

Countries are currently going through a period of high temperatures before the start of the monsoon season, but the intensity of the heat this year broke previous records.

In Hanoi, climate change expert Nguyen Ngoc Huy told AFP that Vietnam’s new record was “alarming” given the “context of climate change and global warming”.

“I think this record will be repeated many times over. It confirms that the very hot climate models have proven correct,” he added.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1°C since the beginning of the industrial age and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments sharply reduce emissions.

In the city of Danang in central Vietnam, a farmer told AFP that the heat had prompted workers to start work earlier than ever and finish it by 10:00 am.

The previous record temperature for Vietnam of 43.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in the central province of Ha Tinh four years ago.

To the west, the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, recorded its highest temperature since the 1960s, while Indian authorities said parts of the country were experiencing temperatures three or four degrees higher than normal.

In April, Spain recorded the highest temperature ever recorded in that month, reaching 38.8 degrees Celsius at Cordoba Airport in the south of the country.

And in March, climate scientists said a rise in global temperatures was unlikely to materialize.

Governments had previously agreed to act to avoid a global temperature rise of more than 1.5°C. But the world has already warmed by 1.1°C, and experts now say it is likely to exceed 1.5°C in the 2030s.

“Each increase in global warming will raise multiple, simultaneous risks,” the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in its report.