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.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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