Vietnam has logged a new highest-ever temperature, with the mercury climbing to a sweltering 110ºF in April, adding the country to a growing list of heat milestones achieved globally, the Washington Post reports.
Huong Khe district, located in Ha Tinh province about 150 miles south of the capital Hanoi, experienced the record-breaking heat on Saturday, according to a forecaster with French meteorological agency Meteo France. The area normally averages in the 80s this time of year.
Temperatures in popular tourist destinations Da Nang and Hue also rose to about 100ºF, and in the south, Ho Chi Minh City blistered Monday in 95ºF, according to the Post.
The record highs are particularly noteworthy given their occurrence in April, months before most parts of Vietnam experience the summer burn.
“It is unbreathable outside in this heat,” Phuong Hoang, who was in Hue during the weekend, told the Post. “It is so hard to carry on your day in this.”
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2015 to 2018 were the four warmest years on record, a continuing sign of long-term climate change globally.
In January, a record-breaking scorcher in Australia saw temperatures climb to 120ºF in some areas. Last summer, Japan also recorded a new high of 106ºF during a deadly heat wave.
Climate change concerns have prompted large-scale demonstrations around the world in recent months, with protesters demanding leaders take urgent action. An estimated 1.6 million students took to the streets in over 120 countries last month, and in London, environmental group Extinction Rebellion has been organizing ongoing protests since mid-April.
According to a landmark U.N. report released last October, global temperatures could rise by 1.5°C — a threshold that scientists say will bring dire consequences — by as early as 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate.
