Shanghai appears to be heading for one of its hottest summers in memory as temperatures approach the record of 40.2 degrees Celsius set on July 12, 1934, media said yesterday.
On Sunday, the mercury hit 39.6 degrees, matching the temperature on July 25, 2003, and July 6, 1944. In the Jingan district in central Shanghai, the local weather bureau recorded a high of 41.6 degrees on Sunday, the Oriental Morning Post said.
Yesterday, temperatures again exceeded 35 degrees with a forecast high of 38, though thunderstorms offered some relief. Shanghai has now had 21 consecutive days of temperatures above 35 degrees. In 2003, Shanghai had a cumulative 40 days with temperatures over 35 degrees for the whole summer and that record could be broken next month.
Mainland experts are blaming the nation's 'freaky' summer weather, including the flooding or drought across much of the country, on global warming, China Daily said yesterday. The provinces of Zhejiang , Jiangxi , Fujian and Guangdong have also been suffering from heatwaves.
In Shanghai, high temperatures are causing shortages of power and water, while sparking health warnings for the young and elderly. About 50,000 people descended on the city's man-made beach in Jinshan over the weekend in an effort to cool down, the Youth Daily said.
Shanghai has relaxed the strict electricity rationing of the past few years, requiring only high energy consumers to shift working hours to off-peak periods and 'encouraging' others to save energy. Despite setting a new record for peak power consumption on July 20, the city has avoided wide-scale blackouts.
