Vietnam has recorded its highest ever temperature, just over 44C (111F) – with experts predicting it would soon be surpassed because of climate change.
The record was set in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, where officials warned people to stay indoors during the hottest times of the day.
Other countries in the region have also been experiencing extremely hot weather.
Thailand reported a record-equalling 44.6C in its western Mak province.
Meanwhile Myanmar’s media reported that a town in the east had recorded 43.8C, the highest temperature for a decade.
Both countries experience a hot period before the monsoon season but the intensity of the heat has broken previous records.
In Hanoi, climate change expert Nguyen Ngoc Huy told AFP that Vietnam ‘s new record was “worrying” given the “context of climate change and global warming”.
“I believe this record will be repeated many times,” he said. “It confirms that extreme climate models are being proven to be true.”
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments make steep cuts to emissions.
In Vietnam’s central city of Danang, farmer Nguyen Thi Lan told AFP the heat was forcing workers to start earlier than ever and finish by 10:00.
Vietnam ‘s previous record temperature of 43.4C was set in central Ha Tinh province four years ago.
Further west, the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka recorded its highest temperature since the 1960s while Indian authorities said parts of the country were experiencing temperatures that were three or four degrees above normal.
In April, Spain recorded its hottest-ever temperature for that month, hitting 38.8C at Cordoba airport in the south of the country.
In March climate scientists said a key global temperature goal was likely to be missed.
Governments had previously agreed to act to avoid global temperature rises going above 1.5C. But the world has already warmed by 1.1C and now experts say that it is likely to breach 1.5C in the 2030s.
In its report, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said “every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards”.
