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Temperature Comparison (Approximate Max)
Comparison of extreme temperature peaks observed in the region.
Primary Sources
'A calamity': Why is a record heatwave sweeping South Asia?
A record-breaking, deadly heatwave sweeping South Asia has pushed temperatures to dangerous highs, disrupting daily life for hundreds of millions and raising new concerns about the vulnerability of one of the world’s most densely populated regions.Countries including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have seen temperatures soar well above seasonal averages, with some areas approaching or exceeding 45-50 degrees Celsius (113-122 degrees Fahrenheit).Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3On Earth Day, remember the people defending the planetlist 2 of 3Long before Trump: How US policy has harmed the environment for decadeslist 3 of 3As the dams feeding Tehran run dry, Iran struggles with a dire water crisisend of listIn Pakistan, at least 10 people were reported to have died from heat-related complications on Tuesday, according to local emergency services, while multiple deaths related to the heat have also been reported in neighbouring India.Such conditions are not entirely new in the region, as heatwaves have become a regular feature of South Asia’s pre-monsoon summer. However, scientists and meteorological agencies say the intensity, duration and geographic spread of recent heat events are unprecedented.Increasingly, experts are linking these extremes to human-driven climate change, which is causing extremes in natural weather patterns.As governments scramble to respond, the crisis is exposing deep inequalities across the region – determining who bears the greatest burden, and who is most able to withstand it.What is causing heatwaves so early in the year?India is experiencing an “unusually early and intense heatwave”, Anjal Prakash, research director at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy think tank in India, told Al Jazeera.“High-pressure systems dominate, trapping hot air near the surface like a dome, preventing it from rising and cooling,” Prakash explained.“This sinking air compresses, warms adiabatically, and blocks clouds, allowing relentless solar heating.”He added that several factors relating to the climate are also contributing to the heat. “Weak pre-monsoon rains and lingering El Nino-like patterns further suppress cooling,” Prakash said.El Nino develops when sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, particularly off the western coast of South America, “become significantly warmer than usual”, often alongside a “falter” in easterly trade winds from the Americas to Asia, according to NASA. In contrast, the La Nina climate patt...
How a "super El Niño" could create record-breaking warming
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.The Pacific Ocean is a giant climate cauldron, with a powerful heat engine that affects storms, fisheries, and rainfall patterns half a world away, and scientists are watching closely to see if it’s about to boil over.Their projections suggest the tropical Pacific is simmering toward a strong El Niño, the warm phase of an ocean-atmosphere cycle that can intensify and shift those impacts.In a world already superheated by greenhouse gases, a strong El Niño during the next 12 to 18 months could permanently push the planet’s average annual temperature past the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold enshrined in scientific documents and political agreements as a turning point for potentially irreversible climate impacts.Climate scientists also recently published a study showing that strong El Niño events can trigger what they called “climate regime shifts,” meaning abrupt, lasting changes in heat, rainfall, and drought patterns.El Niño is one of the planet’s biggest natural release valves for ocean heat. The venting starts with periodic shifts of swirling ocean currents and winds over the Pacific. That causes huge stores of tropical ocean heat to surge eastward from the Western Pacific Warm Pool, roughly between Australia and Indonesia, northward to Japan. Those tropical seas are by far the warmest ocean region on Earth, and span an area four times as large as the continental United States.When that ocean heat spreads across the equatorial Pacific, it spills into the atmosphere in pulses that tilt weather patterns, reroute powerful high-elevation winds, raise global temperatures, bleach coral reefs, and disrupt fisheries and ocean ecosystems. The effects hit continents as well, intensifying rainstorms and flooding in some regions, while amplifying extreme heat, drought, and wildfires in others.In 2015, heat from the tropical Pacific helped raise the global annual average temperature irreversibly past 1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline. And in 2024, Earth experienced the hottest year recorded in human history, aided by another El Niño boost.Even a moderately strong El Niño during the next 12 to 18 months could drive the average global temperature to about 1.7 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level, climate scientist James Hansen told Inside Climate News. Hansen doubts the world will meaningfully cool back down to below...
Heat wave in southern China breaking records
Southern China has been experiencing a scorching heat wave with record-breaking temperatures, the national weather service said. Since May 26, regions including Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong provinces have seen temperatures over 35 C, while temperatures in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces have surpassed 40 C.
The ramifications of record-shattering heat on the West's ecosystems
The effects of this year's heat dome have only exacerbated the winter's record-setting heat and drought, Still added. Snowpack across much of the West was abysmal; in many places, it was the worst in recorded history. "The heat dome put an exclamation point on the worst winter in a century," said Still.
