Singapore sees highest temperature on record
May 13 2023
Singapore had just seen their hottest day on record for the entire island country on Saturday with a maximum temperature of 37.0°C at Ang Ko Mio tying with Tengah on April 17 1983.
In neighbouring Malaysia, 14 people have died from heatstroke with temperatures having reached 38.4°C in central Negeri Sembilan in April. Schools had been ordered to cease outdoor activities.
It is also a humid and in fact more humid than usual in places kind of heat with dew points over parts of Peninsula Malaysia reaching 28°C in the afternoon. This has led to heat indices of up to around 46°C with the heat index a measure of the impact of heat on the human body combining the effects of temperature and humidity.
Whilst Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia are used to hot weather particularly at this time of year, these are unusually hot conditions particularly given that ENSO is still neutral and we have just come out of a triple La Niña. Temperatures in that part of the world are significantly correlated with the state of ENSO in the preceding 9 months with the worst heatwaves typically occurring following strong El Niño with the 1983 Tengah record occurring following the monster 1982-1983 El Niño and Malaysia's highest temperature of record of 40.1°C in Chuping occurring in 1998 following the monster 1997-1998 El Niño and Singapore seeing its then hottest year on record in 2016 following the monster 2015-2016 El Niño. What's further striking is the fact that Singapore's previous highest May temperature on record of 36.7°C occured last year in the midst of triple La Niña.
This highlights the impact of global warming and the region would likely see an unprecedented heatwave during the next 1997-1998 strength El Niño.Models are predicting an El Niño developing this year but it is still unclear if an El Niño would actually develop or how strong it will be. But statistically triple La Niñas which are rare tend to be followed by an El Niño.
Singapore had just seen their hottest day on record for the entire island country on Saturday with a maximum temperature of 37.0°C at Ang Ko Mio tying with Tengah on April 17 1983.
In neighbouring Malaysia, 14 people have died from heatstroke with temperatures having reached 38.4°C in central Negeri Sembilan in April. Schools had been ordered to cease outdoor activities.
It is also a humid and in fact more humid than usual in places kind of heat with dew points over parts of Peninsula Malaysia reaching 28°C in the afternoon. This has led to heat indices of up to around 46°C with the heat index a measure of the impact of heat on the human body combining the effects of temperature and humidity.
Whilst Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia are used to hot weather particularly at this time of year, these are unusually hot conditions particularly given that ENSO is still neutral and we have just come out of a triple La Niña. Temperatures in that part of the world are significantly correlated with the state of ENSO in the preceding 9 months with the worst heatwaves typically occurring following strong El Niño with the 1983 Tengah record occurring following the monster 1982-1983 El Niño and Malaysia's highest temperature of record of 40.1°C in Chuping occurring in 1998 following the monster 1997-1998 El Niño and Singapore seeing its then hottest year on record in 2016 following the monster 2015-2016 El Niño. What's further striking is the fact that Singapore's previous highest May temperature on record of 36.7°C occured last year in the midst of triple La Niña.
This highlights the impact of global warming and the region would likely see an unprecedented heatwave during the next 1997-1998 strength El Niño.Models are predicting an El Niño developing this year but it is still unclear if an El Niño would actually develop or how strong it will be. But statistically triple La Niñas which are rare tend to be followed by an El Niño.