Anh Hoa, a resident of Alley 83 on Street 6 in An Khanh Ward, described the daytime conditions as unbearable: “After 9 a.m., the sun feels like it’s burning through your skin. Even after returning home in the evening, the heat lingers. It used to be that one air conditioner was enough to cool the house, but now we’ve had to add two electric fans — and it’s still oppressively hot.”
Explaining the cause behind this heatwave, Mr. Le Dinh Quyet from the Southern Regional Hydrometeorological Center said the current hot weather is the result of a westward low-pressure zone extending southeastward, while a high-pressure ridge from the western Pacific dominates the upper atmosphere over Southern Vietnam. These systems have prevented the southwest monsoon from strengthening, limiting evaporation and cloud formation, and resulting in intense sunshine.
According to Mr. Le Dinh Quyet, brief dry spells like this are not uncommon in Southern provinces, even during the rainy season — particularly in July and August. These dry periods usually last five to seven days, sometimes up to ten, and are known as monsoon break. As such, the current dry, hot spell is not considered abnormal.
However, Mr. Le Dinh Quyet warned that the monsoon break phenomenon could lead to water shortages affecting agricultural production. While it poses limited health risks overall, strong sunlight, high temperatures — exceeding 35 degrees Celsius in some areas — and elevated UV radiation levels could still cause heat shock, sunstroke, and other health issues.
According to forecasts from the Southern Regional Hydrometeorological Center, August 5 will see changing cloud conditions in HCMC, with hot daytime temperatures and scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Daytime temperatures are expected to rise, while nighttime temperatures will remain relatively stable.
The high will range from 32.6 to 35.7 degrees Celsius, with lows between 25 and 28 degrees. At Tan Son Nhat Airport, the peak temperature could hit 37 degrees Celsius, with a low of 28 degrees. Humidity may reach up to 94 percent, and prevailing southwesterly winds will range from 4 to 6 meters per second.
