Thailand (record breaking heatwave April 2023)

April and May are usually Thailand’s hottest months of the year. Halfway through April and 2023 is proving to be no exception. On April 15, the Asian country set a new national record of 45.5°C (114°F), surpassing the 44.6°C set at the end of the month in 2016. At 15°N, Thailand is one of a dozen Asian countries experiencing their worst spring heatwave in which real-feel temperatures are pushing the limits of human survivability.

Beyond human health, however, this heatwave has implications for all sectors of the regional and global economy with tendrils extending into education, agriculture and food security, heat stress and productivity, and energy use.

After the devastating heatwaves across India and Pakistan in 2022, the World Weather Attribution group cited the heatwaves as “a glimpse of the region’s future”. A year later, and this future is solid. Why? Despite global commitments to the contrary, 2022 marked another year of record greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere. These gases insulate the earth and trap solar radiation, leading to global heating. In the Arctic, this effect is amplified by the melting of sea ice, which exposes dark [ocean] surfaces that absorb more radiation. This is at the core of one of the feedback loops driving planetary warming.

March 2023 saw the second-lowest polar sea ice extent and was also the world’s 2nd warmest month on record (NOAA). March was the 529th straight month with higher-than-normal temperatures (Copernicus), meaning that anyone younger than 44 has never lived in a month below the long-term average.

Meteorological offices throughout the world, in the United States, UK, Australia and Japan, have all indicated the likelihood of an El Niño event in 2023. El Niño patterns are associated with warmer periods, which could further shatter records and give a pronounced glimpse into the planet’s future. Thailand’s 2016 high temperature record was set during an El Niño period, and 2016 remains the Earth’s warmest year to date.