Tourists wearing traditional Thai clothing shield themselves from the sun with umbrellas and cool off with fans during hot weather at Wat Pho temple in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 14. EPA
Bangkok is set to become the hottest major city in Southeast Asia by 2050, with temperatures projected to rise above 38 C as climate change and the urban heat island effect intensify across the region.
The warning comes from the report "Roadmap for Extreme Heat Protection through Passive Cooling in ASEAN Region" by the ASEAN Centre for Energy, which says Thailand's capital faces a far more severe heat crisis in the decades ahead.
In 2025, Bangkok had around 45"extreme heat days" a year, defined as days when temperatures exceed 35 C. By 2050, that number is expected to rise to 120 days a year, meaning residents could face almost three times as many days of accumulated extreme heat within just a few decades.
The report also projects that Bangkok's average daily maximum temperature will climb to 38.1 C by midcentury, up nearly 5 C from 33.3 C in 2000.
