Beijing sweats in extreme 40 deg C heat for record third day
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The heatwaves, the second round in about 10 days, were caused by warm air masses associated with high pressure ridges in the atmosphere.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING – Beijing topped 40 deg C on Saturday for a record third day as the Chinese capital sweltered in extreme heat,
At 1.51pm, the temperature measured by Beijing’s benchmark weather station in its southern suburbs briefly soared above 40 deg C.
Until Saturday, the city of nearly 22 million people had never logged three straight days above 40 deg C since setting up the southern observatory in 1951.
Aside from Beijing, parts of nearby Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Tianjin either raised or kept their hot weather alert at “red”, the highest in China’s four-tier warning system.
A red alert signifies the temperature could exceed 40 deg C within 24 hours.
As of 1.13pm, an area of 450,000 sq km had recorded temperatures over 37 deg C, according to local media.
“Last year’s heatwave gives some sense of the risks to China’s food supply and the potential impact on prices,” Capital Economics wrote in a note on Friday.
“Another drought would hurt crop yields while livestock are vulnerable to high temperatures.”
On Saturday, state media reported ground surface temperatures in excess of 70 deg C in parts of Shandong – China’s most populous province after Guangdong, and a key grower of grain.
The heatwaves, the second round in about 10 days, were caused by warm air masses associated with high pressure ridges in the atmosphere.
The effect was amplified by thin cloud cover and long daylight hours around the summer solstice, according to Chinese meteorologists.
In Beijing between 1990 and 2020, the average number of days with temperatures of 35 deg C or more was 10.6, the official Beijing Daily reported, citing official data.
June is not yet over and that number has already been beaten, the newspaper reported, after temperatures in Beijing surpassed 35 deg C for the 11th day in 2023, on Saturday.
On Friday, Beijing baked in temperatures as high as 40.3 deg C, after sizzling at 41.1 deg C on Thursday, the second-hottest day recorded by the Chinese capital in modern times.
Beijing’s all-time high of 41.9 deg C was recorded on July 24, 1999.
The heatwaves in northern China are expected to abate by Monday before regaining strength later in the week. REUTERS
