Weather

China experienced its hottest summer on record this year

Beijing, Sep 6 (EFE).- China experienced its hottest summer since 1961, the year in the country began to officially record this data, with a national average temperature of 22.3C between Jun. 1 and Wednesday.

This means the temperature this summer was “1.1 C more than in the same period of other regular years and the highest since 1961,” according to data from the country’s Meteorological Administration cited Tuesday by state agency Xinhua agency.

Some 17 provincial-level regions, including Hunan Province and Chongqing Municipality, both in central China, saw record summer high temperatures, the center said.

Up to 15 weather stations spread throughout the country reached or exceeded 44 C this summer.

Likewise, the average number of days with temperatures that exceeded 35 C reached 14.3, another record since 1961, which is 6.3 more days compared to other years.

As for rainfall, the lowest figures were also recorded since 1961, a drought that has seriously affected agriculture.

In provinces such as Hubei, in the center of the country, around 220,000 people had difficulties accessing drinking water this summer and at least 690,000 hectares of farmland have been damaged as a result of the drought, according to official data.

The drought also caused provincial capitals such as Nanjing and Nanchang to not see a drop of precipitation during the first three weeks of August, which left images of people in Chongqing crossing the normally fast-flowing Jialing River on motorbikes.

In recent days, the drought in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has caused the water level of Lake Poyang, the largest freshwater lake in China, to continue to drop to 8.15 meters, officially entering the category of “extremely dry.”

Also, the dryness this year caused fires in mountainous areas of regions such as Chongqing that resulted in the evacuation of thousands.

Local meteorologist Chen Lijuan recently said periods of intense heat, which start “earlier and end later,” could become the “new normal” in the country under “the effect of climate change.” EFE

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