Drought -- National Drought Mitigation Center

 

Title

Heat Waves and Floods across Asia: Was El Niño, then La Niña the Cause?

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

February 1999

Comments

Published in Drought Network News Vol. 11, No. 1, February 1999. Published by the International Drought Information Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Unprecedented heat wave conditions occurred during May–June 1998 across Asia. Unusually high temperatures were recorded in western India, Pakistan, eastern China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Even the United States, western Africa, eastern Canada, and western Australia experienced the blistering heat spell.

Some reports blame people for the global warming. The world is warming because of the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, resulting in an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The 1998 heat wave prompted the United Nations Environment Programme to issue an urgent warning and a wakeup call to limit the emission of global warming gases. The year 1998 may in fact be the hottest year of this millennium.