A major heatwave is forecast to spread across large swathes of northern China this week, bringing record temperatures to some areas, according to China’s meteorological authorities.
The heat wave, which began on Saturday, has already triggered government weather warnings and follows the hottest spring on record in the country.
The national observatory on Monday issued an orange warning for high temperatures – the second most serious alert – as sweltering heat engulfed the north of the country.
On Sunday in coastal Shandong province, seven national weather stations recorded the highest temperature in early June, while temperatures in northern Hebei province and western Xinjiang rose above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), according to National Meteorological Center (NMC).
The heat wave is expected to expand further in the coming days, the NMC said in a statement.
Local governments have also issued warnings.
Beijing on Saturday issued its first yellow warning for high temperatures this summer, warning residents to avoid leaving their homes during the hottest parts of the day.
The warning came as tens of thousands of high school graduates in the Chinese capital finished the national college entrance exam – a highly competitive two-day test known as “gaokao”. A school in Beijing’s Chaoyang district gave out free ice cream to parents waiting outside the gate in the grueling heat. state media reported.
Zheng Zhihai, chief analyst at the National Climate Center, told State-owned Global Times that temperatures in most parts of China were expected to be higher than normal this summer and that the number of high temperature days was also expected to be higher than normal.
Zhong said high temperatures are linked to El Ninoa natural climate pattern marked by warmer-than-average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.
China had the hottest spring on record this year. The national average temperature between March and May reached 12.3 degrees Celsius, the highest since records began in 1961, with 12 national weather stations recording temperatures reaching or surpassing records, according to data the National Climate Center.
Meanwhile, parts of southern China have faced weeks of torrential rain. In Guangdong province, record rains were triggered deadly floods in April, with a Pearl River court recording the earliest arrival of its annual flood season since records began in 1998.
China also saw its hottest year on record in 2023, as the world’s biggest polluter faced a series of relentless heat waves and other extreme weather events driven by the human-caused climate crisis.
The average temperature in China last year was 10.7 degrees Celsius – the highest since records began in 1961, according to the National Climate Center, state news agency Xinhua reported. It broke the previous record of 10.5 degrees set in 2021.
China’s exceptional heat echoed global trends – with scientists confirming that 2023 was officially the hottest year on record, the result of the combined effects of El Nino and climate change.
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