Hot nights ahead for Thailand

Oct 29, 2007, 3:04 GMT

Bangkok - Rising temperatures in Thailand over the past 50 years indicate that the kingdom is heading for hotter, more stressful nights, media reports said Monday.

According to meteorological data researched by Atsamon Limsakul, a scientist at Thailand's Environmental Quality Promotion Department, Thailand's average minimum temperature rose 4.9 degrees celsius between 1951 to 2003, compared with a 1.9 degrees jump in the average maximum temperature.

The result has been hotter, more stressful nights, especially in urban centres such as Bangkok.

'The rise in maximum and minimum temperatures at different rates has caused a progressive narrowing of daily temperature ranges, meaning the night does not become much cooler than the day,' Atsamon told The Nation newspaper.

'When the temperature does not drop much at night, bodies can't cool down from the heat. The stress that accumulated from the daytime is more likely to stay with us through the night,' warned Atsamon.

He also predicted that Thailand was heading for warmer, shorter winters. Thailand's 'cool season,' when temperatures drop below 16 degrees celsius, usually occurs for a few weeks in December.

Astamon's findings will be published in the US Journal of Atmospheric Research next month.