Biting cold to loosen grip as temperatures to creep higher in China
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In Beijing, the city authorities rushed to fix a leak in a thermal pipe network that supplies heating to buildings.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – After almost two weeks of below-freezing weather brought by a cold wave that swept through most of China, a round of warm air will begin to flow from the country’s north to south, lifting temperatures from the weekend.
Northern and north-eastern parts of the country have experienced blizzards and record-breaking cold
While China still forecasts new temperature lows this week, weather patterns will improve with the mercury rising to reach over 10 deg C in many places in the central and eastern regions on Dec 25, state television CCTV said.
The warmer conditions are expected to last until the end of December, resulting in warmer-than-usual temperatures in most parts of the country for this time of the year.
In the northern city of Tianjin, its meteorological department said temperatures will slowly rise from Dec 23, with Dec 24’s high above 0 deg C and a minimum not lower than minus 10 deg C. Forecasts show that Tianjin will hit a maximum of minus 2 deg C for Dec 22.
However, the warmer weather may fluctuate because of interspersing cold air, CCTV said, advising the public to heed forecasts and dress accordingly.
Eastern province Shandong’s observatory warned on Dec 22 of temperatures as low as minus 20 deg C in some mountainous areas in the province’s north-west.
This week, China’s north, including the capital Beijing, its surrounding Hebei province and Tianjin, Henan, Inner Mongolia, and north-eastern provinces Liaoning and Heilongjiang have logged historically their coldest temperatures for the middle of December.
Temperatures in some of these areas and also in parts of the south will be 5 deg C cooler than usual from Dec 22 to 25, China’s National Meteorological Centre said.
In Beijing, the city authorities rushed to fix a leak, discovered before dawn, in a thermal pipe network that supplies heating to buildings in central Dongcheng district.
Repair work for the leaking section stopped some traffic but did not affect residential users, the official Beijing Daily said.
Across China, heating demand has risen as many northern provinces rewrote records after temperatures plunged below minus 30 deg C in some cities.
Peak electricity loads were up by 100 million kilowatts on 2022’s high, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Dec 22.
This equated to an increase of around 8.6 per cent, Reuters calculations based on data from China’s state planner showed.
But ample heating fuel stocks from bumper production mean that China has not needed to ramp up imports of coal and natural gas to meet the record power loads, according to traders. REUTERS
