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Beijing Bakes in Record 41C Heatwave, Halting Outdoor Work

Authorities were also rushing to check on the city’s under-pressure electricity network with the second highest ever temperature recorded on Thursday


Children cool off in a water fountain amid an orange alert for heatwave, at a shopping area in Beijing, China June 22, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
Children cool off in a water fountain amid an orange alert for heatwave, at a shopping area in Beijing, China, on June 22, 2023. Photo: Reuters

 

Temperatures rocketed to 41 degrees Celsius in China’s capital Beijing on Thursday, breaking the record for the month of June, as a heatwave continued across the north of the country.

The heat prompted authorities to step up efforts to safeguard crops and outdoor work was halted during the hottest part of the day.

A weather station in the southern suburbs, considered to be Beijing’s main gauge, recorded 41.1C (106 Fahrenheit) at 3:19pm (0719 GMT), according to the official Beijing Daily. The previous June high was logged on June 10, 1961, when the mercury hit 40.6C.

In Tanghekou in Beijing’s northeast, the temperature pushed even higher to 41.8C helping the small township clinch the title of the hottest spot in China on Thursday.

 

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Beijing has raised an orange alert, the second-most severe weather warning, saying temperatures could be as high as 39C from Thursday to Saturday.

The 41.1C logged on Thursday was the city’s second-highest in history. The warmest temperature recorded by the city of nearly 22 million people was 41.9C on July 24, 1999.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong in northern and eastern China were hammered by heatwaves last week, with the national weather bureau issuing an alert for heat stroke, almost a fortnight earlier than in previous years.

In Tianjin, a port city with a population of over 13 million, increased demand for air-conditioning pushed its power grid load to 14.54 million kilowatts on June 15, up 23% from a year earlier, and spurred its utility department to dispatch workers to patrol underground tunnels every day to ensure electrical cables are in working order.

On Thursday, the temperature in Tianjin’s urban district reached 41.2C, smashing local records.

The latest round of heatwaves, coinciding with the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend in China, will also hit the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in the far west, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system, with red the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

 

Read more:

Asia Rocked by More Record Heat in May as Climate Woes Rise

New Record Temperatures in Vietnam, Laos, Bangkok – CNN

Deaths, Health Crisis as Severe Heatwave Rocks Asia – Guardian

China’s Temperature Rise Threatens Water, Ecosystems, Crops

 

 

Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.