Northern China suffers in the heat, but the south faces heavy rain and flood risk

A yellow heat alert has been issued across large parts of the north and temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius are expected in Beijing next week

But in southern parts it is a different story, with heavy to torrential rain reported in some areas

1-MIN READ1-MIN

Children cool themselves with electric fans as they take a rest near the Forbidden City in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00pm, 25 Jun 2023

Parts of northern China remained on heat alert over the weekend while further south residents were warned of the risk of heavy rain and flooding.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) issued a yellow alert – the third-highest in its four-tier warning system – for residents in eight provinces and municipalities: Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

The CMA said temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and above were reported in Inner Mongolia on Sunday while parts of Beijing, Hebei, Jilin and Heilongjiang recorded temperatures of between 37 to 39 degrees Celsius.

Northern China has been in the grip of a prolonged heatwave this month, with Beijing hitting 41 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) on Friday for the first time in nine years.

The heat is forecast to return to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei between Tuesday and Friday with temperatures remaining around 40 degrees Celsius. There is also a possibility of record high temperatures in some areas, the news portal Thepaper.cn reported on Sunday.

The number of high-temperature days (above 35 degrees Celsius) in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei region this June is also expected to break the record of “12.1 days” set in the same month in 1972, the report said.