Climate change makes heatwave in South Asia, including Bangladesh, 45 times more likely: Report

The heatwave in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries hsa become 45 times more likely due to climate change, says a new report.

According to a recent finding by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), if the global temperature rises from the current 1.2 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius, the recurrence of extreme heat incidents is more probable.

The scientists analysed historical weather data for a South and Southeast Asian region including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. 

In South Asia, a region that the researchers studied twice in the last two years, a strong climate change signal was observed in the April mean temperature this year. They found  these extreme temperatures are now about 45 times more likely and 0.85ºC hotter. 

These results align with previous studies, where they found that climate change made the extreme heat about 30 times more likely and 1ºC hotter.

In the larger South Asia region, an extremely warm April such as this one is a somewhat rarer event, with a 3% probability of happening in a given year – or once every 30 years.

Additionally, analysis shows similar heatwaves are twice as likely during El Niño conditions, writes UNB.

Bangladesh has been facing increasing heatwaves during summer for the last couple of years. The ongoing year is the hottest yet, recording average temperatures of 40 to 42 degrees Celsius in all the districts. 

Record heat in April 

In South and Southeast Asia, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam broke records for their hottest April day, and the Philippines experienced its hottest night ever.

In India, temperatures reached as high as 46ºC. The heat was also extreme in West Asia, with Palestine and Israel experiencing temperatures above 40°C.

The month was the hottest April on record globally and the eleventh consecutive month in a row a hottest month record was broken.

Heat-related deaths were widely reported, with at least 28 in Bangladesh, five in India, and three in Gaza during April. Surges in heat deaths have also been reported in Thailand and the Philippines this year.

These are only preliminary figures, and because heat-related deaths are notoriously underreported, it is likely there were hundreds or possibly thousands of other heat-related deaths in Asia during April.

The heat also led to crop failure, loss of livestock, water shortages, mass die-off of fish, widespread school closures, and low voter turnout in Kerala, India.

The study was conducted by 13 researchers as part of the World Weather Attribution group, including scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Malaysia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.