This May is so far between 2C and 4C hotter than average in Myanmar, according to meteorologists, as the central plains and Yangon region top 40C (104 Fahrenheit) daily.
Yangon’s first rains on April 26 brought relief from a scorching Thingyan, but Yangonites were soon back in the oven as the pre-monsoon sunshine returned.
Temperatures in the region have hit 41C for the past three days, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology posted on its Facebook page.
The blisteringly hot conditions are 4C higher than previous years in Yangon and Mandalay regions, according to The Standard Time Daily, which quoted the department.
Meanwhile, day temperatures in Naypyidaw, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions and Mon state were 5C higher than usual.
On May 7, the river port city of Chauk on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in Magway region recorded 46C—the highest temperature in Myanmar.
Amid the heat surge, four villages on the Sittaung River in Bago Region’s Waw Township face a serious drinking water shortage, reported The Voice.
Wells for drinking water dried up and the Covid-19 outbreak has stopped water donations this year, a resident told the newspaper.
The Department of Rural Development was delivering enough water for each of the nearly 750 households to receive two buckets at a time, said the resident.
Last April, Yangon saw its hottest temperature on record, 42C, while parts of central Myanmar hit 45C, causing dozens of cases of heat strokes, some of them fatal.
Rising sea levels in the Ayeyarwady delta, an area devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, threaten to permanently flood areas and destroy agriculture land.
Droughts are also becoming more frequent, pushing some studies to identify Myanmar as the world’s second most vulnerable country to extreme weather events.
