People in Viet Nam will continue to suffer from baking hot weather this week due to the prolonged heat wave across the country, a meteorologist has predicted.

A man shelters himself under an umbrella to counter the hot spell along Hanoi Highway in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

In the north, intensive sunny spells will keep temperatures above 34 degrees Celsius on the first two days of the week, Le Thi Xuan Lan, a weather expert in Ho Chi Minh City, said, noting that average temperatures in northwestern provinces will be as high as 39 degrees Celsius.

Due to a cold air mass north of the country pushing a trough into the area, northern provinces are expected to have cloudy spells from Wednesday until the weekend, accompanied by some rain and squalls, she added.

Similar weather changes will also be seen in provinces in the north-central region, but with heat on the first few days of this week forecast to be even more severe, with temperatures peaking at 42 degrees Celsius, Lan said.

The central coastal region, including Da Nang and Binh Dinh Province, is expected to experience no rain this week, with temperatures hovering around 36-38 degrees Celsius.

Southern areas in general will continue to experience the current scorching conditions, with temperatures around 35-37 degrees Celsius and drizzles predicted to occur in some areas in the evening, a typical characteristic of the seasonal transition toward the summer-rainy season, the weather specialist said.

Temperatures in southeastern regions are expected to be around 37-39 degrees Celsius, while some will be exposed to an extreme heat wave of 40 degrees Celsius, Lan said.

According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the hot conditions in southern locales are forecast to dwindle by Thursday.

(Source: Tuoi Tre News)