The hot season in Thailand is nearing the end and the country is approaching the rainy season, which is expected to officially begin in mid-May, Thai Meteorological Department deputy director-general Thanasit Iam-ananchai said.
Mr Thanasit, who is also the department’s spokesman, said the hot season in Thailand in fact reached its peak on April 15 when the temperature was measured at a record 44.6°C in Tak province.
The department is expected to announce the end of summer and the beginning of the rainy season in the middle of next month, he added.
Mr Thanasit, who is in charge of the department’s technical affairs, said the department had forecast that during this weekend the daily heat indices, or apparent temperatures, would be at a dangerous level – at 54°C or over – in Bang Na district in Bangkok, Sattahip district in Chon Buri, and the island resort province of Phuket.
He said the heat indices in Bang Na, Sattahip and Phuket are usually higher than other areas in the hot season because they are located near the sea and have a higher level of moisture.
Bang Na, for example, is only 20 kilometres from the sea with a high volume of moisture blown ashore by the wind. Coupled with a high air temperature, the heat index there is usually higher than other areas, he said.
In other words, the heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.
If the air temperature is higher than 40°C, the heat index can be 45°C or higher, a level which can cause people to faint or be hit by heat stroke, he added.