Beijing experienced scorching temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104F) for an unprecedented third consecutive day, as the Chinese capital sweltered under an extreme heatwave.
Additionally, an area the size of California in northern China was subjected to uncommonly high temperatures for the month of June.
At 1:51 p.m. (0551 GMT), the temperature at Beijing's main weather station in the southern suburbs briefly soared above 40C, setting a new record.
Never before had the city, home to nearly 22 million people, witnessed three consecutive days with temperatures surpassing 40C since the establishment of the southern observatory in 1951.
Not only Beijing, but also parts of neighboring Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, and Tianjin maintained a "red" hot weather alert, the highest level in China's four-tier warning system.
A "red" alert indicates that temperatures could exceed 40C within the next 24 hours.
As of 1:13 p.m., local media reported that an area spanning 450,000 square kilometers (174,000 square miles) had experienced temperatures above 37C.
Capital Economics highlighted the risks to China's food supply and potential price impacts, referring to last year's heatwave. The note stated, "Another drought would hurt crop yields while livestock are vulnerable to high temperatures."
State media reported ground surface temperatures exceeding 70C in parts of Shandong, China's second-most populous province and a significant grain producer.
These heatwaves, the second occurrence in around 10 days, were attributed to warm air masses associated with high-pressure ridges in the atmosphere. The impact was amplified by thin cloud cover and the long daylight hours during the summer solstice, as explained by Chinese meteorologists.
According to official data cited by the Beijing Daily, between 1990 and 2020, the average number of days with temperatures exceeding 35C in Beijing was 10.6. However, this year has already surpassed that number as Saturday marked the 11th day in 2023 with temperatures surpassing 35C.
On Friday, Beijing baked under temperatures as high as 40.3C, following a scorching day on Thursday when the mercury reached 41.1C, the second-highest temperature ever recorded in the Chinese capital.
Beijing's all-time record high of 41.9C was documented on July 24, 1999. Photo by N509FZ, Wikimedia commons.
