Assistant Professor Winston Chow remembers that growing up, his two brothers often complained whenever they played football or were eating at the hawker centre.

Why is Singapore so warm, they'd asked with annoyance. The boy took the question so seriously, he ended up becoming a climate scientist. "I think that experience subconsciously influenced my decision to study weather and climate," said Prof Chow of the National University of Singapore's geography department, now in his late 30s.