Potatoes 'Boil' in the Ground as Record Heat Scorches Asia

A powerful heatwave has been baking large parts of Asia this summer, breaking temperature records and causing serious harm to people, animals, and farms. In South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, temperatures have climbed higher than they ever have before. Scientists say the extreme heat is connected to climate change caused by human activity, and they warn that it will likely get worse in the years ahead.

In South Korea, a farmer named Lee Sang-hyuk went to dig up his potato crop and found disaster waiting for him. The potatoes had turned soft and mushy underground, ruined by soil that had become as hot as an oven. 'It's not just one or two fields like this. How can I even put it into words? It's so upsetting,' he said. A week before he dug them up, the crop had looked perfectly healthy.

South Korea set a new all-time heat record on August 2, when the city of Yangsan reached 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5°F). That is the highest temperature the country has recorded since it began keeping modern weather records in 1904. The heat has been blamed for at least 31 deaths across the country. More than 900,000 farm animals and 1.4 million farmed fish also died because of the extreme temperatures.

South Korea's government told people to stop all outdoor activities right away. President Lee Jae Myung called the situation 'unlike anything we have experienced before.' He told his cabinet that the country needs to completely rethink how it handles national emergencies. 'This extreme weather is becoming the new normal,' he said.

Farmers across South Korea have been hit especially hard by the heat. Watermelon farmer Hong Kyung-hee watched his fruit turn to mush after the heat set in, saying that in 50 years of farming, he had never seen anything like it. Strawberry farmer Yoon Woo-ha lost seedlings she had spent three months growing, and her insurance would not cover the loss. South Korea's crop insurance program only covers certain crops and regions, leaving many farmers without help when things go wrong.

Japan also experienced historic heat this summer, with temperatures reaching 40°C (104°F) or above in multiple places. It was the first time Japan ever recorded what the country now calls a 'kokushobi,' a Japanese word meaning 'cruelly hot day.' This new category was created this year for any day above 40°C. In Tokyo, three lions died of suspected heatstroke at a city zoo.

Scientists who studied Japan's heat found that it would have been 'virtually impossible' without global warming. Researchers at Japan's Weather Attribution Centre calculated that a heatwave this severe would normally happen only once every 10,000 years if humans had not been warming the planet. The heat happened even though an El Niño weather event was taking place, which in the past has actually made extreme summer heat in Japan less likely.

In Hong Kong, the temperature climbed to 36.9°C (98.4°F), the highest ever recorded there since 1884. Hot air was pushed over the city by the outer edges of Typhoon Dolphin. Despite the record heat, Hong Kong's warning system for outdoor workers stayed at its lowest level. A former head of the Hong Kong Observatory said the warning threshold was 'clearly set too high,' and Hong Kong's Labour Department later said it would review the system.

In China's western Xinjiang region, one weather station recorded a scorching 50°C (122°F) in July, and North Korea reported nights in Pyongyang where temperatures never dropped below 25°C (77°F). A United Nations climate scientist named June-Yi Lee said a combination of high-pressure weather patterns and a warming climate likely helped create the conditions for so much extreme heat across the region. The World Meteorological Organization reported that Asia has been warming about twice as fast in recent decades as it was before 1991.

Professor Lee warned that heatwaves are expected to become more frequent and more intense as the planet continues to heat up. She said compound extremes — such as back-to-back heatwaves followed by heavy rain — are also becoming more common. 'There is an urgent need for rapid, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit further global warming,' she said, adding that communities must also prepare for climate changes that are already happening.