Splash and dash: A woman running through a fountain at a mall in Beijing as authorities issue a red alert for high temperatures. — AP
BEIJING: Beijing, sweltering in extreme heat, was expected to top 40ºC for a third day, with sizzling temperatures already baking an area the size of California in northern China.
In Beijing between 1990 and 2020, the average number of days with temperatures of 35ºC 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 said, after temperatures in Beijing surpassed 35ºC for the 11th day this year, yesterday.
Parts of Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin and Beijing either raised or kept their hot weather alert at “red”, the highest in China’s four-tier warning system.
In the colour-coded system, red is the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
A red alert signifies the temperature could exceed 40ºC within 24 hours.
As of 1.13pm, a combined area the size of California – or 450,000sq km – had recorded temperatures of over 37ºC, 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. Even if a similar outcome is avoided this year, climate change means such events are likely to happen with increasing frequency in future.”
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.
On Friday, Beijing baked in temperatures as high as 40.3ºC, after sizzling at 41.1ºC on Thursday, the second-hottest day recorded by the Chinese capital in modern times.
Until this week, the city of nearly 22 million people had never logged two consecutive days above 40ºC since setting up its main observatory in the southern suburbs in 1951.
Beijing’s all-time high of 41.9ºC recorded on July 24, 1999, remains intact for now.
On Friday, Beijing authorities said schools can reduce or even suspend classes if the weather becomes very hot.
Heatwaves in northern China are expected to abate by tomorrow before regaining strength later in the week. — Reuters
