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.
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.“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.
“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.