Heatwave and Climate Change Puts Pressure on Thailand

[webfact]

 

Thailand has been hammered by searing heatwaves this year, leading to dire consequences such as infrastructure failures and a rise in fatalities. These weather events have offered a stark glimpse into the potential impacts of climate change on the country. 

 

The end of the Thai summer has been marked by extreme heat, causing numerous incidents, including a motorbike catching fire in Chiang Rai and railway tracks in Nakhon Si Thammarat at risk of warping from the intense heat.

 

Heatstroke has led to an uptick in deaths, and water shortages are beginning to affect tourism areas. These climate-related problems present additional concerns for the already struggling Thai economy. 

 

Recently, a TikTok video depicting a motorbike spontaneously combusting in the heat gained attention, highlighting the breadth of issues stemming from the extreme temperatures. Other repercussions include water shortages affecting hoteliers and rail infrastructure damage. 

 

Residents and tourists eagerly await the end of the heatwave, hoping that predicted thunderstorms between May 10th to 14th will bring relief. This follows an exceptionally warm summer, with April recorded as one of the hottest months Thailand has ever experienced. 

 

During the past few days, temperatures in many parts of the country have soared, often exceeding 40°C.

 

Top: File photo

 

-- 2024-05-03

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[flyingtlger]

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been hammered by searing heatwaves this year, leading to dire consequences such as infrastructure failures and a rise in fatalities.

 

Hell hath come upon us.....

[lombardo47]

Travelling over to Pattaya on 1st June, praying that temperatures are going to fall.

[ChasingTheSun]

Solar flares are a downer.

 

Hopefully the sun will behave going forward.

[GammaGlobulin]

I just hope that everybody here is paying attention to:

 

INCREASING Water Vapor levels in the atmosphere due to Global Warming.

 

Water vapor is one of the stronger greenhouse gasses.

 

Therefore, it, by itself, might be thought of as a positive feedback loop.  The hotter the temperature, the more water vapor in the atmosphere, and the more water vapor, the hotter the atmosphere will become due to water vapor being a greenhouse gas.

 

Then, of course, higher Relative Humidity leads to heat stress when it becomes less easy to evaporate sweat from skin, causing overheating of the body.

 

Obviously, society must do more to adjust to a world of 2 degrees C above 1850 baseline.  When will we hit 2 degrees C?  Well, the rate of change, the intensity, is increasing.

 

Let's all choose the most dire scenario, the worst-case model, and then we can see that it might be just one decade before we hit 2 degrees C, when we all agreed to 1.5 degrees C.

 

We need to insulate our houses.

And, we need to plant trees like crazy.

And, we need to remove inefficient buildings.

 

Doing this, we can reduce the heat-island effect.

And, we might be able to live in a world of 2 degrees above, for a short period of time, until....

We hit 2.5 degrees above, and then...

We reach 3.0 degrees above, and so on.

 

Soon, fairly soon, where we live will no longer be inhabitable.

 

(It's not IF, but WHEN.)

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been hammered by searing heatwaves this year, leading to dire consequences such as infrastructure failures and a rise in fatalities. These weather events have offered a stark glimpse into the potential impacts of climate change on the country. 

Climates have change throughout history, Thailands ability to master them has not.

[GammaGlobulin]

5 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Climates have change throughout history, Thailands ability to master them has not.

 

NOBODY here is talking about LOCAL Climate change.

Where have you been during the past 40 or 50 years?

 

We are destabilizing what has, for over 10,000 years, been a stable climate system.

 

Instabilities such as this can easily lead to famine when crops lose productivity at temperatures only slightly warmer than they are now.

 

We are already losing productivity due to rising mean temperatures....

 

 

[hotchilli]

2 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

NOBODY here is talking about LOCAL Climate change.

Where have you been during the past 40 or 50 years?

 

We are destabilizing what has, for over 10,000 years, been a stable climate system.

 

Instabilities such as this can easily lead to famine when crops lose productivity at temperatures only slightly warmer than they are now.

 

We are already losing productivity due to rising mean temperatures....

 

 

Take it easy fella... no need for the huge print.

This isn't Tik Tok 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Take it easy fella... no need for the huge print.

This isn't Tik Tok 

Correct, but there is always one...................??🙄

[GammaGlobulin]

8 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Take it easy fella... no need for the huge print.

This isn't Tik Tok 

 

We need some easier way to automate italicization.

 

Anyway, being a genius, I like to use BIG WORDS, you know.

 

Just adjust your entire screen smaller, or hold it farther away from your face, and you will be fine.

 

No worries, Buddy.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

11 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Take it easy fella... no need for the huge print.

This isn't Tik Tok 

 

Take a BETTER Look, FELLA....

 

The huge print you object to is just an image posted from the title of a research paper.

 

This is an IMAGE and there is no way to adjust the font pitch.

 

You DO know what the pitch of a font is, right?

 

Anyway, as I say, since this is an IMAGE, the size and type of fonts cannot be adjusted.

 

Capisce?

 

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

4 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Take a BETTER Look, FELLA....

 

The huge print you object to is just an image posted from the title of a research paper.

 

This is an IMAGE and there is no way to adjust the font pitch.

 

You DO know what the pitch of a font is, right?

 

Anyway, as I say, since this is an IMAGE, the size and type of fonts cannot be adjusted.

 

Capisce?

 

 

 

 

I bet your fun at parties.

[Bobthegimp]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

including a motorbike catching fire in Chiang Ra

 

This makes no sense. If it was hot enough for one motorbike to spontaneously combust, many more would have. 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

railway tracks in Nakhon Si Thammarat at risk of warping from the intense heat

 

Yes, steel does expand in the heat, and contract in the cold. Expansion joints compensate for these factors to ensure the gauge remains within acceptable parameters.  Was there a derailment that didn't make the news? 

 

Who pays you guys to put out this trash?  It's a poorly contrived and written narrative that's big on innuendo and short on facts. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Water vapor is one of the stronger greenhouse gasses

is the main greenhouse gas

[redwood1]

God is punishing all you sinners with this heat.....Drinking and carousing till all hours of the night in bars....The heat has been turned up you folks...

 

I have a 28000 BTU Mitsubishi aircon so I am ok....

[charleskerins]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I just hope that everybody here is paying attention to:

 

INCREASING Water Vapor levels in the atmosphere due to Global Warming.

 

Water vapor is one of the stronger greenhouse gasses.

 

Therefore, it, by itself, might be thought of as a positive feedback loop.  The hotter the temperature, the more water vapor in the atmosphere, and the more water vapor, the hotter the atmosphere will become due to water vapor being a greenhouse gas.

 

Then, of course, higher Relative Humidity leads to heat stress when it becomes less easy to evaporate sweat from skin, causing overheating of the body.

 

Obviously, society must do more to adjust to a world of 2 degrees C above 1850 baseline.  When will we hit 2 degrees C?  Well, the rate of change, the intensity, is increasing.

 

Let's all choose the most dire scenario, the worst-case model, and then we can see that it might be just one decade before we hit 2 degrees C, when we all agreed to 1.5 degrees C.

 

We need to insulate our houses.

And, we need to plant trees like crazy.

And, we need to remove inefficient buildings.

 

Doing this, we can reduce the heat-island effect.

And, we might be able to live in a world of 2 degrees above, for a short period of time, until....

We hit 2.5 degrees above, and then...

We reach 3.0 degrees above, and so on.

 

Soon, fairly soon, where we live will no longer be inhabitable.

 

(It's not IF, but WHEN.)

 

 

 

5 people think your post is funny.  5 people so far are fools .

[charleskerins]

43 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Climates have change throughout history, Thailands ability to master them has not.

Master the climate?

[Roo Island]

42 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Climates have change throughout history, Thailands ability to master them has not.

Ummm...nobody alive now was here for the last climate change. We've had 2 elderly people die this week in the village.  We hit 39c, but felt like 47. Brutally hot and something they've never experienced.

 

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

[charleskerins]

3 hours ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

This makes no sense. If it was hot enough for one motorbike to spontaneously combust, many more would have. 

 

 

Yes, steel does expand in the heat, and contract in the cold. Expansion joints compensate for these factors to ensure the gauge remains within acceptable parameters.  Was there a derailment that didn't make the news? 

 

Who pays you guys to put out this trash?  It's a poorly contrived and written narrative that's big on innuendo and short on facts. 

Expansion joints didn't compensate     the point of the article 

from the BKK post  Extreme heat bends railway tracks Cold water and ice used to restore normal conditions on line in Nakhon Si Thammarat 

 

[charleskerins]

4 hours ago, Roo Island said:

Ummm...nobody alive now was here for the last climate change. We've had 2 elderly people die this week in the village.  We hit 39c, but felt like 47. Brutally hot and something they've never experienced.

 

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

US has done a wonderful job of mastering the climate  At more than a dozen tide gauges spanning from Texas to North Carolina, sea levels are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010 — a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades.WAPO

[GammaGlobulin]

17 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

is the main greenhouse gas

 

I did NOT say "main", I said "stronger".

 

Water vapor is not the strongest greenhouse gas, which is why I did not say this.

 

Methane, per molecule, might be considered a stronger greenhouse gas.

 

And, there are other greenhouse gasses which persist a long time in the atmosphere and have far more potential to cause global warming.

 

 

 

It's always best to not just parrot some statement read on the internet without first understanding the CONTEXT.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

10 minutes ago, charleskerins said:

5 people think your post is funny.  5 people so far are fools .

 

I am still on the fence about it....

 

 

[atpeace]

It rained last night!!!!!!!  I'm already over global warming this year.  Another year like the last and I might be screaming like Greta and spewing hate wrapped in a thin wrapper of concern.

[HappyExpat57]

22 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

This makes no sense. If it was hot enough for one motorbike to spontaneously combust, many more would have. 

 

 

Yes, steel does expand in the heat, and contract in the cold. Expansion joints compensate for these factors to ensure the gauge remains within acceptable parameters.  Was there a derailment that didn't make the news? 

 

Who pays you guys to put out this trash?  It's a poorly contrived and written narrative that's big on innuendo and short on facts. 

 

There is another article that explained how a blocked oil port (or something like that) added to the problem. Yes, motorbikes aren't going to start going all "Spinal Tap" around the country.

[HappyExpat57]

15 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

God is punishing all you sinners with this heat.....Drinking and carousing till all hours of the night in bars....The heat has been turned up you folks...

 

I have a 28000 BTU Mitsubishi aircon so I am ok....

Pride is one of the 7 deadly sins, brother. 😉

[sabai-dee-man]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been hammered by searing heatwaves this year, leading to dire consequences such as infrastructure failures

 

Because the infrastructure here is normally so robust... 🤔 🤔 

[Roo Island]

11 minutes ago, charleskerins said:

US has done a wonderful job of mastering the climate  At more than a dozen tide gauges spanning from Texas to North Carolina, sea levels are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010 — a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades.WAPO

I spent many months bouncing around several Pacific island nations. Rising sea levels are having a huge impact there. Most are barely above sea level. It's terrible to see the destruction and contamination of their ground water

[twizzian]

Will Thailand introduce an extreme hot weather tax for tourists

[koolkarl]

By 2050, we all go the way of the dinosaur as per Sir Isaac Newton, largely because of one reason, greed for money.  Thailand has another special problem, toxic air pollution basically all year. You can enjoy all this by now paying income taxes and get  zero benefits for your money.

[Peterphuket]

'During the past few days, temperatures in many parts of the country have soared, often exceeding 40°C. '

 

I don't understand this message, where I live it is for many weeks, every day between 44 and 47ºC.

 

So, not during the past few days.