PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's hot and dry season started earlier this year compared to the past two years, due to the ongoing El Nino weather phenomenon.
High temperature notices have been issued for 22 locations across 8 states so far this year.
In comparison, such advisories were only issued starting in March for both 2023 and 2022, according to an analysis of the notices which are issued by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia).
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The heat is forcing many people to make adjustments.
Muhammad Mahathir Mohd Firdaus, 29, a horse stable marketing manager in Langkawi, said the rising temperatures has made it uncomfortable to remain outdoors for long periods of time.
It is a problem for his as his job requires him to be with customers on horse rides.
“The rides usually last between one to two hours and with the rising heat I would feel light dizziness and get a headache afterwards,” he said.
Mahathir, who is a father of two, said his children developed fever and coughs after the weather turned.
Mohd Nurul Hasri, 39, a civil servant in Alor Setar, Kedah, said he limits his children’s outdoor activities during the daytime due to the hot weather.
“Coincidentally, this hot weather is happening during the school holidays. So, I make sure my children spend a lot of their time indoors.
“I only allow my children to play outdoors once the weather cools down, typically after 6pm.
“I also remind my family to drink plenty of water and take frequent showers to cool down,” he added
He said Alor Setar has had very little rain since before the Chinese New Year, and even when it does rain it would only lasted for five to ten minutes.
Perlis’ Beseri state assemblyman Haziq Asyraf said that this year’s hot spell is more intense than last year’s.
He said Beseri has not had rain for nearly three weeks and the temperature can go up to 39C in the afternoon.
Beseri and Chuping are among the hottest areas in Perlis, according to Haziq.
“Hot weather during this period is a recurring event that happens every year and can last for three to four months.
“People in Perlis are pretty much adapted to the hot weather but people who are coming from outside of Perlis may require some time to adapt to the heat,” he said.
According to MetMalaysia, the highest-ever temperature reading in the country was 40.1C in Chuping on April 9, 1998, which incidentally was an El Niño year.
El Nino and La Nina are weather phenomena dictated by the flow of warm and cool oceanic currents circulating the planet.
El Nino causes sea temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean to rise, bringing hot and dry weather to Malaysia.
During the El Nino in 1998 and 2016, parts of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore were blanketed by thick haze due to hundreds of peat soil fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Last year - which was the world's hottest year - saw different places on the planet having to deal with both fires and floods at the same time due to the impacts of climate change, which was exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon.
MetMalaysia in a statement on Jan 31 said the current El Niño is expected to continue to the second quarter of this year.
"There is a 73% probability that the El Niño phenomenon could cause drier weather which would normally occur throughout a period of nine to 12 months and could sometimes continue up to two years," MetMalaysia said.
On Feb 23, MetMalaysia issued Level 1 notices for 15 places throughout the country, the highest number for a single day this year.
So far many of the alerts are for places in northern peninsula Malaysia states especially Kedah, Perak, and Pulau Pinang.
Baling, Kedah recorded the highest heat alerts with 11 alerts.
Meanwhile, 10 high-temperature notices were issued in Sik and Langkawi, Kedah and Beaufort, Sabah.
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