The meteorological agency says that 2024 will be the hottest year on record in China | Climate news
In the past four years, China has recorded its four warmest years since comparable temperature measurements began in 1961.
China has experienced its own the hottest year record in 2024, which is a new high since comparable temperature measurements began more than 60 years ago, the state meteorological service announced.
The national average temperature for 2024 was 10.92 degrees Celsius (51.66 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.03 degrees higher than 2023 and “the warmest year since full records began in 1961,” the China Meteorological Administration said on its news page on Wednesday evening.
“Four of the warmest years on record were in the last four years, and all ten of the warmest years since 1961 have occurred in the 21st century,” the administration announced.
Densely populated Shanghai, China’s financial hub, recorded 2024 as the hottest year since meteorological records for the city began in 1873, data from the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau showed. The average temperature in the city was 18.8C (65.8F).
China already recorded its hottest month on record in July last year, as well the hottest August and the warmest autumn on record.
Residents of the southern city of Guangzhou also experienced a record-long summer, with state media reporting that there were 240 days in which the average temperature was above 22C (71.6F), breaking the record of 234 days set in 1994.
China’s warmer weather has been accompanied by stronger storms and heavier rainfall, with dozens of people killed and thousands forced to evacuate their homes during floods across the country last year.
In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, killing 48 people, while Sichuan, Chongqing and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River suffered from heat and drought in early autumn.
Last year, Greenpeace warned of “alarming new trends in extreme heat” in China and said that extreme heat days are coming earlier each year and the size of areas affected by such heat in China is growing.
“As a host of climate impacts hit China, it affects people’s lives and livelihoods,” the campaign group said.
The United Nations said in a year-end message on Monday that 2024 will be the hottest year ever recorded globally.
Global warming, driven mainly by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just a rise in temperatures, but also the indirect effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, and warmer oceans mean more evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.
Zurich-based insurance giant Swiss Re said climate-related natural disasters caused an estimated $310 billion in economic losses in 2024.
