China Grapples With Extreme Weather as El Niño Approaches

People cooling off on a beach amid hot weather in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, on June 24, 2023. STR/AFP via Getty Images

China has been grappling with floods and a heat wave in recent months, with certain regions facing record-high heat and heavy downpours as El Niño weather conditions approach.

A total of 185 red alerts for hot weather were issued on June 23 across the country, including in Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, and Hebei, the state-run Global Times reported on June 25.

A red alert is the highest level in China’s four-tier warning system, which signifies that the temperature could exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) within 24 hours.

On June 23, Beijing baked in temperatures as high as 40.3 degrees Celsius, after sizzling at 41.1 degrees Celsius the day before.

The heat waves, the second round in about 10 days, were caused by warm air masses associated with high-pressure ridges in the atmosphere. The effect was amplified by thin cloud cover and long daylight hours around the summer solstice, according to Chinese meteorologists.

The heat waves have prompted authorities to step up efforts to safeguard crops and ensure the safety of tourists. Outdoor work was also halted during the hottest part of the day.

Heavy rainfall was reported in southern regions of China, including Hunan, Guangdong, and Zhejiang provinces. The China Meteorological Administration warned that Anhui and Sichuan provinces could be at risk of floods.

El Niño Weather Conditions

Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told Global Times that the weather in China is consistent with the El Niño wind and temperature pattern.

Flooded fields and buildings following heavy rains in Rongan, Guangxi, China, on June 13, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images

“The persistent occurrence of extreme heat can further contribute to the development of compound meteorological disasters, affecting local agricultural and industrial production, water resources, ecological environment, energy supply as well as people’s daily life,” Ma said.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared on June 8 the arrival of El Niño, a climate phenomenon that’s marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator.

The agency noted that El Niño occurs every 2 to 7 years on average and that it can bring heavier rain to some parts of the world or drought in others. On its website, the NOAA stated that the weather phenomenon was expected to come, saying it'll be “moderate-to-strong” by the fall and winter months.

“El Niño’s influence on the U.S. is weak during the summer and more pronounced starting in the late fall through spring,” NOAA stated.

By the winter, there’s an 84 percent chance of “greater than a moderate strength El Niño” and a 56 percent chance of a “strong” El Niño, it stated.

El Nino, which means “Little Boy” in Spanish, is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The opposite, La Niña, means “Little Girl,” and it means that surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean near the equator are lower than the average.

According to the NOAA’s website, an El Niño event generally lasts 9 to 12 months. La Niña events, by contrast, can last for years.

“During El Niño, unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central/eastern tropical Pacific lead to increased evaporation and cooling of the ocean. At the same time, the increased cloudiness blocks more sunlight from entering the ocean. When water vapor condenses and forms clouds, heat is released into the atmosphere,” the NOAA wrote in a 2022 blog post.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.