The entire northeastern region of Thailand is expected to see the mercury rise even further after Songkran and until the first week of May, a leading climate expert warned on Sunday.
A number of provinces in the central, eastern and southern provinces will also see temperatures climb further in the same period, Assoc Prof Seree Supratid, director of the Center for Climate Change and Disasters at Rangsit University, posted on his Facebook page.
"The extreme hot weather conditions have not ended yet. Although temperatures in the first week of April are already high, more peaks could be expected during and after Songkran despite some provinces experiencing downpours from thunderstorms," Assoc Prof Seree wrote, citing weekly average temperature forecasts from mathematical modelling of climate change impacts.
"This does not mean the North will not experience hot weather. I cannot name the hottest province in this period. Let's just say it's hot in every inch of the country."
Meanwhile, the Thai Meteorological Department forecasted that all regions will experience hot to extremely hot weather from April 9 to 13 and the mercury in the North could hit 43 degrees Celsius. It warned the public to refrain from working and doing activities long outdoors.
The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) said the country's electricity consumption hit a record high of 34,443.1 megawatts on Apr 6. The new record was reached at 8.54pm on Saturday, compared with the previous peak of 34,130.5MW at 9.41pm on May 6, 2023.
Egat expects power use will exceed 35,000 MW this year due to a continued recovery in the business and tourism sectors.