Weather agency says China could experience hottest year on record in 2024 climate news
Over the past four years, China has recorded its four hottest years since comparable temperature recording began in 1961.
China is set to experience its hottest year in 2024, a new high since comparable temperature recording began more than 60 years ago, the country’s meteorological service said.
The average national temperature for 2024 was 10.92 degrees Celsius (51.66 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.03 degrees higher than 2023 and “the hottest year since full records began in 1961,” the China Meteorological Administration said on its news site Wednesday night. .
“The top four warmest years ever occurred in the past four years, with all of the top ten warmest years since 1961 occurring in the 21st century,” the administration said.
Densely populated Shanghai, China’s financial hub, is set to record its hottest year in 2024 since meteorological records for the city began in 1873, data from the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau showed. The city’s average temperature was 18.8C (65.8F).
China had already recorded its hottest month in observational history in July last year, as well as its wettest August and wettest autumn.
Residents of the southern city of Guangzhou also experienced a record-breaking long summer, with state media reporting there were 240 days when the average temperature was above 22C (71.6F), breaking the record of 234 days set in 1994.
China’s hot weather has brought stronger storms and more rainfall, and flooding across the country last year killed dozens of people and forced thousands from their homes.
In May, a highway collapsed after several days of rain in southern China, killing 48 people, while Sichuan, Chongqing and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River suffered from heat and drought in early autumn.
Greenpeace last year warned about China’s “worrying new trends of extreme heat”, saying that extreme heat days were coming earlier each year and that the areas affected by such heat were increasing in size in China.
“People’s lives and livelihoods have been affected by a number of climate-related impacts in China,” the campaign group said.
The United Nations said in a year-end message on Monday that 2024 is set to be the hottest year ever recorded worldwide.
Global warming, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures, but the effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and oceans. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, and warmer oceans mean more evaporation, resulting in more intense rains and storms.
Zurich-based insurer Swiss Re said climate-related natural disasters could lead to an estimated $310 billion in economic losses in 2024.
