A Lunar New Year heatwave in China? No, the weather forecast’s wrong
Bureau says bugs in its raw data caused apps to incorrectly show temperatures rising or falling by more than 20 degrees across the country
China’s bureau of meteorology has blamed a data glitch after this week’s forecasts of wild swings in temperature for 13 provinces turned out to be completely wrong.
Across the country, many people got a shock when they checked the forecast on weather apps on Monday morning to see temperatures would rise or fall in their areas by more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) in a single day this week during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The weather apps use data provided by the China Meteorological Administration, which said the glitch affected provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Gansu and Hainan.
In the city of Jinan, capital of Shandong, the forecast showed three days of unusually warm weather starting on Thursday, when it would climb 20 degrees to a high of 28 degrees Celsius.
But in Linyi, also in the eastern province, the temperature was forecast to plunge by 20 degrees on Wednesday.
