Myanmar achieves 48.2C, its highest April temperature ever

YANGON: As the Southeast Asian country bakes in a heatwave, Myanmar recorded its highest April temperature ever on Monday, April 2, at 48.2 degrees Celsius (118.76 Fahrenheit), according to officials.

According to a statement from the national meteorological office, the town of Chauk in central Myanmar’s Magway area recorded a temperature of 48.2C on Sunday, which was the highest temperature recorded in the country since records started 56 years ago.

According to the meteorological office, the day’s highs were 44°C in Mandalay, the second city, and 40°C in Yangon, the commercial center.

Chauk sits in the dry central plains of Myanmar. “It was too hot here, and all of us just stayed at home,” said one local.

He told AFP, requesting anonymity, “When it’s like this, we can do nothing.”

According to the nation’s weather monitor, midday temperatures last Thursday were 3–4 degrees Celsius higher than the April normal throughout large portions of Myanmar’s parched heartland.

Last year, record highs were reached worldwide, and according to the UN World Meteorological Organization, heatwaves were becoming worse in Asia as a result of the region’s unusually fast warming.

According to scientific studies, heatwaves are becoming longer, more frequent, and more powerful due to climate change.