The temperature reached 41.1 degrees Celsius (105.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in Beijing on June 30, making it the city's warmest June day in more than 60 years, according to Chinese weather authorities.
The city is in the midst of a protracted heatwave, and the forecast predicts that the city's severe temperatures will continue until the month of June is over. On Thursday, officials said that June had experienced its hottest day since records began being kept in 1961.
This year, a number of monthly temperature records have been broken across China, leading to concerns about a potential shortage of energy. The country's largest metropolis, Shanghai, which is located on the east coast and is home to 25 million people, saw one of the hottest May days in a century just a few weeks ago.
Beijing, which is located in the north of the country and serves as the capital, is home to more than 21 million people. A meteorological sensor in the northern part of the city registered a high temperature of 41.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday. An orange notice, the second-most severe weather warning, was issued by the authorities earlier, stating that temperatures could exceed 39 degrees Celsius in the days leading up to Saturday.
A warning for heat stroke was also issued by the National Weather Service the week before last, which is two weeks earlier than in recent years. People in Beijing, Tianjin, and other cities in northern and eastern China were encouraged by local officials to refrain from working outside during the warmest portions of the day and to seek medical attention if they exhibited symptoms of heat stroke.
People and businesses have also been cautioned by some to cut back on their consumption of electricity. The National Energy Administration of China conducted its very first emergency drill in China's eastern area last week. The practice simulated a power spike and outage in preparation for any large-scale power disruptions that may occur in the future.
The load on the electricity system in the port city of Tianjin has increased by 23% in comparison to the same time last year due to the increased demand for air cooling. According to the officials, employees from the local utility department were doing daily inspections of the subterranean tunnels to ensure that the electric lines were in good working order.
The effects of global climate change include an increase in both the average temperature and the frequency of heatwaves. According to research that was published a month ago, climate change has increased the likelihood of heatwaves occurring in Asia by a factor of 30.
During a heatwave in April, it had also caused temperatures to rise by at least 2 degrees Celsius in various parts of Asia. According to the assessments of several specialists, this part of the world is currently through "the worst heatwave in [its] history."
In April, record temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius were seen in Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, and India. In certain nations, the excessive heat was responsible for deaths and hospitalizations, and it melted roads and had other negative effects on infrastructure. Heatwaves are one of the natural dangers that pose the greatest threat to human life, as they are responsible for thousands of deaths annually.
