Temperatures in the next two months – usually among the warmest months in the year – could go up due to lingering effects of the El Nino phenomenon that gripped Singapore from the second half of 2023, experts say.
Meanwhile, several local governments in the Philippines have suspended in-person classes in anticipation of extremely hot weather.
Based on the latest forecast, several areas across the Philippines are expected to experience “danger category” heat indexes exceeding 42 degrees Celsius.
El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon that brings hotter, drier weather over Southeast Asia due to changes in sea surface temperatures and surface winds over the tropical Pacific Ocean.
El Nino is likely to still make its presence felt in the region in the form of higher-than-usual temperatures in the months ahead, as heat takes time to transfer from the sea surface to the atmosphere.
In Singapore, May is the warmest month of the year, with an average daily temperature of 28.6 degrees Celcius.
