Global Courant 2023-04-20 17:57:58
A record-breaking heat wave has scorched South and Southeast Asia, with temperatures so scorching in places like West Bengal in India that people there are frying eggs in the heat of the midday sun.
Meteorologists are tracking temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius in India, Thailand and Myanmar, and 42 to 43 degrees Celsius in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal and China. These are temperatures most of these countries have not experienced in decades.
Populations across the continent turn on their air conditioners and electric fans, seek shelter in shopping malls and their offices, or pray for rain.
People die of heat stroke as they gather in thick, large crowds under the sun, and students land in hospitals as their schools bake in the heat.
Power grids are overloaded and farmers are looking at crop failures.
The continent is experiencing the “worst April heat wave” in its history, said climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, who follows extreme weather on his Twitter account.
“It will only get worse,” he warned.
Climatologists and scientists say this is just the beginning of a long dry spell likely to be exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon set to hit later in 2023.
Asia will have to brace for even warmer days ahead, they warn.
Dead and melting asphalt
At least 13 people have died of heatstroke in India’s western state of Maharashtra after attending an awards ceremony on Sunday that drew more than a million people.
In Ahmedabad, the most populous city in Gujarat state, the air had been so hot and humid that the asphalt on a newly built road did not harden but instead melted.
At least two other states in India – Tripura in the northeast and West Bengal in the east – have ordered schools to close this week as temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius.
A video blogger in West Bengal cracked an egg into a non-stick pan, placed the pan on an open terrace and started cooking an omelette.
