Climate gets more extreme in seasonal transition

An extreme weather pattern is striking the south-central, Central Highlands and southern regions due to the transition from the dry season to the rainy one, The Saigon Times Daily has reported.
An extreme weather pattern is striking the south-central, CentralHighlands and southern regions due to the transition from the dry seasonto the rainy one, The Saigon Times Daily has reported.

The paperquoted meteorologist Le Thi Xuan Lan as saying that after a dry seasonlasting around five months, the transitional period from the dry seasonto the rainy season often falls on early April.

On the VernalEquinox Day on March 21, the move of the sun from the southernhemisphere to the northern hemisphere caused radiant energy for thenorthern hemisphere to increase vigorously.

Due to theirlocations near the low latitude area, the south-central, CentralHighlands and southern regions have suffered a strong rise in radiantenergy supply. Hot weather on the mainland, in combination with risinghumidity in the sea and easterly winds, has made the evaporation volumesurge sharply, resulting in dense thunderclouds at a height of 6-8kilometers. Those thunderclouds can lead to dangerous weather patternssuch as hail, tornado and lightning.

Therefore, hails oftenhappen in season transitional rains in south-central provinces whilemountainous provinces like the Central Highlands and the northern partof the southern region including Tay Ninh, Dong Nai and Binh Phuocprovinces are prone to lightning.

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City andother southern provinces this week have seen season transitional rain,which is expected to continue after a few scorching days. The shorterinterval between rains, the greater the danger.

Lan advisedlocals to be watchful when seeking shelter from rain as old trees couldbe easily struck down by rainstorms or tornados. She asked people tokeep their children from playing in the rain to avoid possible thunderstrikes.

On April 7, a tornado along with hail struck threehamlets in Son Linh commune in the mountainous district of Son Ha in thecentral province of Quang Ngai, unroofing hundreds of local homes. Onthe same day, a resident was reportedly killed by a lightning strike inDuc Trong district in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Drought seen more severe in southern region

In a related development, the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment has reported lower rainfalls in many areas such as NinhThuan and Binh Thuan provinces and the Central Highlands, accounting for50-90% of the average levels in previous years. The agricultural sectorwould face severe water shortages in the near future.

Accordingto reports by the agriculture departments of the affected provinces,water levels at reservoirs in southern provinces are at 60-70% capacitywhile the percentages in some localities such as Ninh Thuan and BinhThuan are 25-40% and 40-60% in the Central Highlands and thesoutheastern region.

Similarly, water levels at the Tra KhucRiver in Quang Ngai province, the Cai River in Nha Trang city and the LaNga River in Binh Thuan province are very low while seawater has madeits way deep into Vu Gia and Thu Bon rivers in the central region.

Ifhot weather continues, rice farming areas will be heavily affected.Over the past few months, the dried-up coffee farming areas in Di Linhand Da Huoai districts in Lam Dong province have been rising due tolittle rain.

The crop areas affected by a water undersupply inBinh Phuoc amount to 14,000 hectares and nearly 5,500 hectares in NinhThuan and 5,450 hectares in Daklak.

According to the SouthernInstitute of Water Resources Research, the highest level of salinity atthe Cau Noi station on the Vam Co River is recorded at 18-21 grams perliter this month while there was no fresh water in this area fromFebruary to May. At the Cuu Dai River, salinity was measured at 24-26 gper liter.

The central meteorology forecast centre says hotweather will continue in central provinces, the Central Highlands,southeastern provinces and the Mekong Delta in the near future as therainy season may arrive later than in previous years.-VNA

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