Study: Crops Under Threat as Surprise March Heatwave Hits Central Asia
Temperatures across the month were up to 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter in the region than the pre-industrial average, according to World Weather Attribution, a coalition of scientists that studies the impact of climate change on extreme weather events, which conducted the research.
Climate change intensified the heatwave by about 4 degrees Celsius, the group said, though cautioned that figure "is likely an underestimate."
"This is a heatwave that didn't make headlines –- it happened in spring and in a region that isn't exactly known for blistering heatwaves," said Maja Vahlberg, a technical adviser at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre who took part in the study.
The research was conducted across the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
"Our heatwave studies often detect changes of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (35-39 degrees Fahrenheit), so 10 degree Celsius is quite frankly bonkers," said Ben Clarke from Imperial College London.
"Hotter March temperatures are impacting agriculture harvests and access to water in Central Asia, as well as people's health," said Friederike Otto, co-head of World Weather Attribution.
The melting of thousands of glaciers is a major threat to people in the landlocked region, which already suffers from water shortages.
Between 14 and 30 percent of glaciers in the Tian-Shan and Pamir -- the two main mountain ranges in Central Asia -- have melted over the last 60 years, according to a report by the Eurasian Development Bank.
The heatwave coincides with a crucial agricultural season, when almonds, apricots and cherries bloom and wheat is sowed.
Around half of all workers in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are employed in agriculture, which makes up one-fifth of the region's economy.
In particularly hot spots, temperatures hit 30 degrees Celsius -- highly unusual for March.
Central Asia is typically characterized by exceptionally hot summers and harsh, cold winters.
Climate scientists said early heatwaves in the region would likely continue, seeing it as a trend rather than a one-off event.
"We should expect events like this often," Clarke told AFP during an online briefing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Parts of Europe Burn as Millions Are Facing Record Heat
Wildfires burned in parts of Europe on Tuesday as millions of people across the continent struggled to adapt to the new reality: record summer heat. Temperatures in some areas soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Europe is warming faster than any other continent, at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Last year was the hottest year on record in Europe and globally, the monitoring agency said. Scientists warn climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making parts of Europe more vulnerable to wildfires. The burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal release heat-trapping gasses that are the main driver of climate change. Spain and Portugal: Numerous wildfires Outside Madrid, firefighters had largely contained a blaze that broke out Monday night, authorities said. It killed a man who suffered burns on 98% of his body, emergency services said. Elsewhere, firefighters and nearly 1,000 soldiers were battling blazes in regions including Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia. Thousands of people evacuated homes and hotels, including holiday-goers at beaches at the southern tip of Spain. Regional authorities said Tuesday afternoon that some of those evacuated from beach locations could return to their hotels. In Portugal, more than 700 firefighters were working to control a fire in the municipality of Trancoso, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) northeast of Lisbon. Smaller fires were burning further north. Türkiye: Thousands evacuated, some on boats Firefighters largely brought a major wildfire in northwest Türkiye under control, the forestry minister announced, a day after the blaze prompted hundreds of evacuations and led to the suspension of maritime traffic. The blaze broke out on agricultural land in Canakkale province. Fanned by strong winds, it rapidly spread to a forested area, then to a residential one. It forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents — some by sea — and led to 77 hospitalizations due to smoke exposure, officials said. Firefighters were still battling two other wildfires in Manisa and Izmir provinces in western Türkiye, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on social media. France: A red alert for heat The national weather authority placed most of France's southern region on the highest heat warning, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) expected for the second consecutive day. The heat will spread to the northeast, including the Paris region, Meteo France said. Some municipalities offered free or discounted access to public swimming pools. Most regions in central and southern France were monitored for the high risk of forest fires, after a deadly blaze last week in the Aude region. Officials said the fire was under control but will not be fully extinguished for weeks, with hot spots at risk of reigniting. Greece: Multiple evacuations for fires Authorities ordered multiple evacuations due to wildfires on the island of Zakynthos and in nearby areas on the western Greek mainland, as high winds added to the nationwide risk. Water-dropping planes and helicopters were operating in the Agala area in the southwest of Zakynthos, and evacuations affected a nearby coastal area popular with tourists. Zakynthos Mayor Giorgos Stasinopoulos appealed to the government to send additional aerial support. Britain: Another heatwave Temperatures were expected to hit 34 Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in southern parts of England, including London. Officials define a heatwave as temperatures exceeding 25 Celsius for most of the UK — and 28 Celsius in London and its surrounding area — for three consecutive days or more.
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
France on high alert as ongoing heatwave fuels wildfire and pollution risks
PARIS — Southwest France sweltered on Monday as temperatures rose to 43 degrees Celsius in parts of Charente and Aude, prompting the country's highest heat alert across a dozen departments. In Aude, where vineyards and Mediterranean scrub stretch across hills, hundreds of firefighters remained on the ground to monitor the perimeter of a vast wildfire that burned through 160 square kilometres last week. Local authorities said the blaze is now contained, but warned it could smoulder for weeks, with hot spots still posing a risk. Meteo-France, the country's national weather service, placed 12 departments on red alert, a designation issued only eight times since its creation in 2004 following a deadly summer heatwave the year before. Officials said the red alert allows local authorities to cancel outdoor gatherings, shut public spaces and modify school or summer camp timetables. The warning is triggered for extreme, prolonged heat events which pose severe health risks and the potential to disrupt daily media posts showed shuttered streets in Valence, residents covering windows with foil to reflect sunlight and tourists sheltering under umbrellas along the Garonne in Toulouse. Café terraces in the south were empty as people moved indoors to escape the heatwave, France's second this summer, began on Friday and is forecast to last all week, extending into the 15 August holiday expect it to push north, with highs of 38°C in the Centre-Val de Loire region and up to 34°C in to local media, the conditions are also worsening air quality, prompting pollution alerts in several Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the prefecture has declared an ozone pollution emergency across several departments, introducing restricted traffic measures in parts of the Aix-Marseille-Provence area to cut is facing similarly poor air quality, according to the weather monitoring agency Airparif, which also flagged degraded conditions in major officials have warned residents to avoid outdoor activity during peak pollution and to limit unnecessary driving. — BBC
Arab News
06-08-2025
- Arab News
Pakistan's deadly monsoon floods were worsened by global warming, study finds
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Heavy rainfall that triggered floods in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people, was worsened by human-caused climate change, according to a new study. The study by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming's role in extreme weather, found that rainfall from June 24 to July 23 in the South Asian nation was 10 percent to 15 percent heavier because of climate change, leading to many building collapses in urban and rural Pakistan. Pakistan's government has reported at least 300 deaths and 1,600 damaged houses due to the floods, heavy rain and other weather since June 26. Saqib Hassan, a 50-year-old businessman in northern Pakistan, said flooding on July 22 destroyed his home and 18 of his relatives' homes, along with their dairy farms. His farm animals were washed away, resulting in heavy losses — likely 100 million rupees ($360,000) — for him and his family. Last-minute announcements from a nearby mosque were the only warning they got to evacuate their homes in the small town of Sarwarabad and get to higher ground. 'We are homeless now. Our houses have been destroyed. All the government has given us is food rations worth 50,000 rupees ($177) and seven tents, where we've been living for the past two weeks,' Hassan told The Associated Press over the phone. Heavy rains cause series of disasters High temperatures and intense precipitation worsened by global warming have accelerated the pace of recent extreme weather events faster than climate experts expected, said Islamabad-based climate scientist Jakob Steiner, who was not part of the WWA study. 'In the last few weeks, we have been scrambling to look at the number of events, not just in Pakistan, but in the South Asian region that have baffled us,' he said. 'Many events we projected to happen in 2050 have happened in 2025, as temperatures this summer, yet again, have been far above the average,' said Steiner, a geoscientist with the University of Graz, Austria, who studies water resources and associated risks in mountain regions. Heavy monsoon rains have resulted in a series of disasters that have battered South Asia, especially the Himalayan mountains, which span across five countries, in the last few months. Overflowing glacial lakes resulted in flooding that washed away a key bridge connecting Nepal and China, along with several hydropower dams in July. Earlier this week, a village in northern India was hit by floods and landslides, killing at least four people and leaving hundreds missing. The authors of the WWA study, which was released early Thursday, said that the rainfall they analyzed in Pakistan shows that climate change is making floods more dangerous. Climate scientists have found that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can make rain more intense. 'Every tenth of a degree of warming will lead to heavier monsoon rainfall, highlighting why a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is so urgent,' said Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at the Center for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and lead author of the WWA study. Extreme weather's impact on Pakistan Even though Pakistan is responsible for less than 1 percent of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, research shows that it incurs an outsized amount of damage from extreme weather. Pakistan witnessed its most devastating monsoon season in 2022, with floods that killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage. According to the United Nations, global funds set up to deal with loss and damages because of climate change or funds set up to adapt to climate change are falling well short of the amounts needed to help countries like Pakistan deal with climate impacts. The UN warns that its loss and damage fund only holds a fraction of what's needed to address yearly economic damage related to human-caused climate change. Similarly, UN reports state that developed countries such as the United States and European nations, which are responsible for the largest chunk of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, are providing far less than what's needed in adaptation financing. These funds could help improve housing and infrastructure in areas vulnerable to flooding. The WWA report says much of Pakistan's fast-growing urban population lives in makeshift homes, often in flood-prone areas. The collapsing of homes was the leading cause of the 300 deaths cited in the report, responsible for more than half. 'Half of Pakistan's urban population lives in fragile settlements where floods collapse homes and cost lives,' said Maja Vahlberg of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, who also helped author the WWA report, in a press statement. 'Building flood-resilient houses and avoiding construction in flood zones will help reduce the impacts of heavy monsoon rain.'
