Scientists have warned that global warming is exacerbating adverse weather conditions in Vietnam this summer after the country experienced a record 44.2 degrees Celsius last weekend, Vietnam News reported on Tuesday. The temperature was measured indoors at Tuong Duong station in the central province of Nghe An last Sunday. It topped the high of 44.1 degrees Celsius in northern Thanh Hoa province one day earlier and far surpassed the record of 43.4 degrees Celsius in April 2019, according to the National Center for Hydro Meteorological Forecasting. The El Nino weather is likely to develop in June and July and continue in the second half of this year, said Phan Van Tan, former head of the Department of Meteorology of the Hanoi University of Sciences. During El Nino, storms are pushed further east, creating warmer surface ocean temperatures and less rainfall in the mainland with the central region of Vietnam to be hardest hit, he added. While the expert could not predict the strength and the extent of the El Nino weather pattern, he was certain that the average temperature would be higher this summer. “This year, it is very unusual,” said Le Thi Xuan Lan, former deputy head of the forecasting department of the southern region’s Hydro-meteorological Station. Summer heatwaves and downpours will become more frequent this year in Vietnam, she forecast. “Winds from the southwest will increase, bringing more rainfall,” she said. “Rain at the beginning of the season is always accompanied by hail, lightning storms and tornadoes, causing damage to houses and trees.” Experts expected many parts of the country, especially the country’s central region, to suffer more heatwaves this summer with persistent extreme weather events including severe temperature fluctuations and record-high temperatures. Human impacts have also contributed to rising temperatures, experts said. “In urban areas, there are millions of air conditioners, which help cool the indoor air but the heat they release causes a significant rise in the atmosphere’s temperature,” Lan said. “This is why people still feel the unbearable heat even at night.”