The heat wave continues to hit the mainland. Monitoring by the National Climate Center shows that the high temperature weather has lasted for 30 days, covering 5.021 million square kilometers of land and affecting more than 900 million people. Shanghai recorded a high temperature of 40.6 degrees Celsius again yesterday, and it has exceeded 40 degrees for three days in the first and middle of this month, the first time in history. Chongqing recorded a low of 33.2 degrees yesterday morning, 0.2 degrees higher than the day before, setting a record for the lowest and highest local temperature for the second consecutive day. The China Meteorological Administration predicts that there may not be rain until Sunday in the Sichuan Basin and the surrounding areas of the Yangtze River Delta.
Since the 13th of last month, at least 71 national meteorological stations in the mainland recorded record-breaking maximum temperatures, of which 4 reached 44 degrees or above, namely 44.2 degrees in Lingshou County, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 44.1 degrees in Gaocheng District, 44 degrees in Zhengding County and Zhaotong, Yunnan. 44 degrees in Yanjin County. In the hot weather, electricity consumption also continued to increase. The national dispatched power generation reached a record-breaking 27.854 billion kWh on Wednesday. According to incomplete statistics, many people in Zhejiang, Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangsu, Henan and other places suffered from severe heat stroke “heat stroke” this month, and at least 3 people died.
Some animals also suffer from heat stroke. The high temperature in Liyang, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province reached 40.2 degrees on Tuesday. A pig truck driver called the police for help, saying that the pigs transported from Inner Mongolia to Zhejiang would soon turn into “burning pigs” when the two trucks became hot. Firefighters dispatched water for about 40 minutes to cool hundreds of pigs (figure 1). In Suzhou, a netizen caught an ant on the ground where it was exposed to the sun to 65 degrees. As soon as the ant landed, it ran around and died about 3 seconds later. In Nanjing, “live beads” (similar to “duck eggs” in Hong Kong) stored at room temperature by the public were too hot to hatch a black chick (Figure 2).
Multiple high pressures over China combine to show their power
The National Climate Center pointed out that the high temperature this time is mainly caused by the La Niña phenomenon and the development of the mid-latitude warm high pressure belt. Since late June this year, the western Pacific subtropical high (hereinafter referred to as the “subtropical high”) has moved northward. After the typhoon “Siamba” moved northward in early July, the subtropical high strengthened to the west, and the Iranian high extended to the east. The combination of latitude and continental high pressure has formed a stable warm high pressure belt over China, thus causing this heat wave.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/China/Mainland heat wave for 30 days-Affecting 900 million people-Chongqing lowest temperature 33.2-Breaking record/328769