A remote township in China's arid northwest endured temperatures of more than 52 Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) on Sunday, state media reported, setting a record for a country that was battling minus 50C weather just six months ago.
Temperatures at Sanbao township in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression soared as high as 52.2C on Sunday, state-run Xinjiang Daily reported on Monday, with the record heat expected to persist at least another five days.
The Sunday temperature broke a previous record of 50.3C, measured in 2015 near Ayding in the depression, a vast basin of sand dunes and dried-up lakes more than 150 m (492 ft) below sea level.
Since April, countries across Asia have been hit by several rounds of record-breaking heat, stoking concerns about their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing climate. The target of keeping long-term global warming within 1.5C is moving out of reach, climate experts say.
Prolonged bouts of high temperatures in China have challenged power grids and crops, and concerns are mounting of a possible repeat of last year's drought, the most severe in 60 years.
China is no stranger to dramatic swings in temperatures across the seasons but the swings are getting wider.
On Jan. 22, temperatures in Mohe, a city in northeastern Heilongjiang province, plunged to minus 53C, according to the local weather bureau, smashing China's previous all-time low of minus 52.3C set in 1969.
Since then, the heaviest rains in a decade have hit central China, ravaging wheat fields in an area known as the country's granary.
This week, the United States and China are looking to rekindle efforts to fight global warming, with U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry in Beijing holding talks with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.
16 Comments
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isabelle
52.2C? Absolutely brutal temperature.
The unfortunate, innocent people locked up in Xinjiang's concentration camps must be suffering even more than usual at the moment - not that Xi cares in his air-conditioned Imperial Palace :(
Redemption
Holy smokes!
Marc Lowe
They did it to themselves. The CCP sacrificed their people and people in the Orient with their brazen misuse of fossil fuels to power child labor factories. They should learn from Japan. Japan has clean pollution, not nasty smog like China.
Rodney
It will come to japan soon. Karma.
Roy Sophveason
Explain.
Blacklabel
Yep the desert is hot.
餓死鬼
Out of curiosity, since research and data presented by climatologists aren't enough, what would it take for you to accept climate change?
Blacklabel
What data?
someone said the last 6 days have been some of the hottest of the last 1000 years.
where can I see that data, as I saw other articles saying it’s only the hottest since 2016.
餓死鬼
Maybe something interesting here:
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
Do you have anything else that you think might be useful?
Blacklabel
John Kerry says the war in Ukraine is causing a huge amount of carbon emissions.
so for the sake of “climate” why don’t we just stop that first?
Blacklabel
Clearly there is a side that believes in man made climate change and another side that believes it’s hot in summer and in deserts.
餓死鬼
Here's something for Xinjiang:
http://www.iapjournals.ac.cn/dqkx/en/article/doi/10.3878/j.issn.1006-9895.2201.21182
Since it's Chinese, hopefully there won't be any "liberal-funded narratives" (but I can't guarantee it).
theFu
127 °F is 52.25 °C that doesn't like brain baking territory. I am shocked that the CCP is allowing the temperature to be reported, since in prior years, they set a limit of 45°C for any public temperature reporting on radio, TV, phone weather apps and newspapers. I'm not joking.
gcFd1
A remote township in China's arid northwest endured temperatures of more than 52 Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) on Sunday, state media reported, setting a record for a country that was battling minus 50C weather just six months ago.
Barely any human activity there.
Just Mother Nature cooking things up as she has been know n to do throughout history.
nukkuheddo
My university education was in applied math...my sister is a biologist - I don't keep current on environmental things - but my sister does - and with her critical thinking cross references things. My understanding is that scientists have done loads of research in Antarctica - a massive ice shelf fell off and they have determined that that ice has been shielding the ocean floor under it for thousands of years (scientifically proven - scientific proofs are unforgiving - and you'd be brave and or foolish to disagree)...they have drilled ice cores and analyzed them for CO2 content OVER a THOUSAND YEARS - you can deny anything you want to deny...and it is always a good thing to question information. One should also recognize that there's a huge difference between denying science and understanding it well enough to differentiate between questionable data and probable data
餓死鬼
Stopping the war sounds great. Can you suggest a way of doing that without capitulating to Mr. Putin?