BEIJING: Beijing has upgraded its warning for scorching weather to “red” – the highest in a colour-coded alert system on Friday – saying most parts of Beijing could roast in temperatures of up to 40C.
Yesterday, the maximum temperature in the city of nearly 22 million citizens breached 41C and shattered the record for the hottest day in June.
An extremely high weather condition in its southern suburbs that are considered Beijing’s main gauge, recorded a temperature of 41.1C in the afternoon. The last extremely high June was recorded on June 10, 1961, when the mercury hit 40.6C.
Scientists say rising global temperatures – mainly caused by burning fossil fuels – aggravate extreme weather over the world, and several countries in Asia have experienced highly deadly heatwaves and record temperatures in recent weeks.
The daily maximum recorded yesterday was the city’s second-highest in country’s history, just below the 41.9C recorded by Beijing on July 24, 1999.
China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red being the most severe, followed by yellow, orange, and blue. A red alert indicates the temperature is set to increase above 40C within 24 hours.
On Thursday, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said that high temperatures would persist across much of the country’s north for the next eight to ten days.
It said that very high-temperature observations and warnings would continue on a rolling basis in areas including Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, and Henan.
