Week-long high heat to pervade northern, central Vietnam

Since Thursday last week, northern Vietnam has seen temperatures between 35-38 degrees due to impacts of a low-pressure area in the west. On Saturday, Hoa Binh City was sizzling at 39 degrees, and Hanoi 38 degrees, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Widespread heat is expected to continue in the north this week, with temperatures commonly ranging between 35-38 degrees, the center said. Mountainous regions in the north may see rains at night, so locals should be wary of floods and landslides, it advised.

U.S. weather forecast service AccuWeather said Hanoi’s temperatures would range between 27-36 degrees on the first two days of the week, before falling to 33 degrees on Wednesday and gradually rising to 39 degrees on the weekends. High-altitude locations like Lao Cai’s Sa Pa would see temperatures at 19-25 degrees this week.

Nguyen Van Huong, head of the weather forecast division of the center, said the heat in the north is expected to last for the entire week as there is no indication of weather patterns that would cause widespread rain in the coming days. It would be the longest-lasting heat period since the beginning of the year, he added.

Central Vietnam has also been seeing high heat over the past week, with temperatures at 36-39 degrees. Weather forecast agencies said temperatures from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen provinces would range between 37-39 degrees this week, while mountainous regions in the west from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue may see temperatures up to 39 degrees.

Southern Vietnam and the Central Highlands would see rain for the entire week due to impacts of monsoon winds. The highest temperatures in the Central Highlands would range around 28-31 degrees, while southern Vietnam would see temperatures between 32-34 degrees.

Weather forecast agencies said average temperatures across the nation in July would be around 0.5 degrees higher than previous years. Periods of high heat would likely happen in northern and central Vietnam until August.