BEIJING: Beijing has had its hottest June day in more than 60 years, with temperatures reaching 41.1 degrees Celsius (105.9 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Chinese weather authorities.
The city is experiencing an ongoing heatwave, with severe temperatures expected to last until the end of June. On Thursday, officials declared it the hottest June day since records began in 1961. Several monthly heat records have been broken in China this year, raising concerns about an approaching energy crisis.
Last month, the country’s largest city, Shanghai, with 25 million residents on the east coast, saw its warmest May day in a century. Beijing, the nation’s northern capital, is home to almost 21 million people. On Thursday, a meteorological weather station in the city’s north reported a high of 41.8 degrees Celsius.
Authorities had already issued an orange alert, the second-most severe weather warning, warning that temperatures might exceed 39 degrees Celsius in the days leading up to Saturday. Last Monday, the National Weather Bureau issued a heat stroke warning, a fortnight earlier than in prior years.
Local authorities in Beijing, Tianjin, and other northern and eastern Chinese cities warned residents to avoid outdoor work during the hottest parts of the day and to seek medical attention if they exhibit symptoms of heat stroke. Some have also advised individuals and businesses to reduce their use of electricity.
The National Energy Administration held its first-ever emergency drill in China’s eastern region last week, simulating a power surge and outage in the wake of a large-scale power loss. The agency described the situation as “relatively severe” in terms of power grid security.
In the port city of Tianjin increased demand for air conditioning has raised the load on the Tianjin electrical grid by 23% compared to the previous year. Officials added that workers from the local utility department were checking underground tunnels every day to ensure that power cables were functioning properly.
Global climate change is causing rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves. According to research published last month, climate change has rendered heatwaves in Asia 30 times more common. During an April heatwave, it also elevated temperatures by at least 2 degrees Celsius in many areas of Asia. Experts have described the region as undergoing “the worst heatwave in [its] history.”
In April, temperatures in Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, and India exceeded 45 degrees Celsius. In certain countries, the excessive heat resulted in deaths and hospitalizations, as well as melted roads and other infrastructure. Heatwaves are one of the world’s deadliest natural disasters, causing thousands of deaths each year.
