JAKARTA: Indonesia experienced its hottest April for more than four decades, two senior weather agency officials said on Wednesday (May 8), as the region endures a suffocating heatwave and global temperatures continue to break records.
Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in recent weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain.
"The average air temperature in April 2024 was the highest compared to April from 1981-2023," Achmad Fachri Radjab, head of the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency's (BMKG) climate change information centre, told AFP.
Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, BMKG's deputy of climatology, also confirmed the agency's findings to AFP.
Indonesia recorded an average air temperature in April of 27.7 degrees Celsius, the highest for the month since 1981 and beating the last highest average April temperature set in 2016 by 0.1 degrees, according to BMKG data.
It also represented an increase of nearly one degree Celsius in April this year compared to the month's average temperature of 26.85 degrees Celsius for the period 1991 to 2020, the agency said.
"This year, it was 0.89 degrees higher than the average (for that period)," said Radjab.
"When it comes to causes, there are a lot of factors, not only climate factors but also environment factors must have an influence."
Residents of South Asia and South-East Asia from Myanmar to the Philippines were punished last month as they sweltered in record temperatures.
More than 100 temperature records fell across Vietnam in April while Bangladesh and Myanmar also saw heat records for the month broken. - AFP
