This year, China had the hottest summer since records began in 1961, with the average temperature in China rising to 22.3 degrees between June 1 and August 31.
The temperature was “1.1 degrees Celsius above the average of previous years and was the highest since 1961,” according to data from the country’s Meteorological Administration, quoted on Tuesday by the official Xinhua news agency.
A total of 17 provincial-level regions, including Hunan province and Chongqing municipality, both in central China, saw record summer temperatures, the same source added.
total, 15 weather stations across the country recorded temperatures as high as 44 degrees or higher Celsius this summer.
The average number of days with temperatures above 35 degrees this summer reached 14.3, another record since 1961, and 6.3 days more than the average of previous years.
The lowest levels of rainfall since 1961 were also recorded. The drought severely affected agriculture.
In provinces such as Hubei, in the center of the country, some 220,000 people struggled this summer to access clean water and at least 690,000 hectares of farmland were damaged as a result of the drought, according to official figures.
THE the drought also meant that provincial capitals such as Nanjing (east) and Nanchang (centre) had no rainfall during the first three weeks of August.
In recent days, drought in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has caused the water level of Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake, to drop to 8.15 meters, officially entering the “extremely high” category. dry”.
This year’s drought has also sparked fires in mountainous areas in regions such as Chongqing, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
Local meteorologist Chen Lijuan recently explained that periods of intense heat, which start “earlier and end later”, could become the “new normal” in the Asian country, under “the effect of climate change”.
Source: Observadora
