China to see another hot spell in coming days

BEIJING • China will suffer the return of more heatwaves over the next 10 days from east to west, with some coastal cities already on their highest alert level and inland regions warning of dam failure risks because of melting glaciers.

A sharp temperature spike is expected today, before building up into heatwaves, defined as periods of atypically hot weather of three days or more.

Today is the day of the "big heat" in the Chinese Almanac based on the lunar calendar. The hot spell is expected to be similar in scope as heatwaves from July 5 to 17, but more regions could be hit by temperatures of 40 deg C or higher, chief forecaster Fu Jiaolan at the National Meteorological Centre told state media.

Some cities in Zhejiang province, home to many factories and exporters, yesterday issued red alerts, the highest in a three-tier warning system, forecasting temperatures of at least 40 deg C in the next 24 hours.

The load on the national power grid could reach a new high this summer as demand for air-conditioning by homes, offices and factories surges, with safe operation facing "severe tests", the Ministry of Emergency Management warned yesterday.

"For all of the factories in China and in Shanghai we have regulations that need to be followed," said Mr Leo Zhang, president of chemical product maker Sika China. "Every year we do things to make the work more comfortable, for example giving workers ice-creams when it gets too hot."

Zhejiang, as well as parts of Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and the city of Chongqing, also stand at risk of forest fires in the near term, the ministry said.

In the western region of Xinjiang, accelerated glacial melt till next Friday poses risks to rivers and dams, the China Meteorological Administration said yesterday, warning particularly of a high risk of dam failure on a tributary of the Aksu River near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

This round of hot weather will have "a certain degree of impact" on the melting of alpine snow and ice, the administration said.

The heat in China this summer has been described as extreme. From June 1 to July 20, the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins - major centres of industry and commerce - were hit by at least 10 high-temperature days more than the norm. Heatwaves have also scorched other parts of East Asia, Western Europe, North Africa and North America.

The highest-ever recorded temperature in China is a matter of debate. According to Chinese media, the hottest period in the last 300 years was in July 1743 during the Qing dynasty, with a French missionary in Beijing said to have recorded a high of 44.4 deg C.

In 2015, a local news portal reported 50.3 deg C at a weather station near Ayding, a dry lake in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression.

REUTERS