China cold snap persists, more records tumble
Experts warn global warming makes extreme weather more likely
Residents are covered in frost while exercising outdoors during cold weather in the northeastern city of Shenyang. – AFPPIC
BEIJING: More low temperature records tumbled across China
yesterday, as the country endures a persistent cold snap that has crowned a year of extreme weather.
The national weather office said in a social media post that more than 20 stations posted all-time December lows in the early hours of yesterday.
They included Hohhot, capital of the northern Inner Mongolia region, where a reading of -29.1°C broke a nearly 70-year record.
The weather office on Wednesday said five stations had logged all-time lows, including a bone-numbing -33.2°C in the northern city of Datong.
In northwestern Gansu province, where an earthquake on Monday killed 135, survivors have spent several freezing nights outdoors in makeshift tents.
Authorities have issued an alert for low temperatures across a vast area of northern, eastern and southeastern China.
China’s financial hub Shanghai was also set to record its chilliest period in December in four decades, spurring authorities to issue warnings for low temperatures and wind.
Wang Kaiyun, 59, a cleaner in downtown Shanghai who commutes from the city’s suburbs on an electric scooter, said the temperature was -5°C on her one-hour ride yesterday.
“Even though I was wearing gloves, I quickly lost feeling in my hands and they are still painful.”
While the city’s temperatures remain far warmer than those in northern China, the run of cold weather was unusual for Shanghai.
The city’s weather bureau said it expects the minimum temperature at one downtown reading station to remain below zero for five straight days until Dec 25, a run of cold in the month of December that has not occurred in 40 years.
Experts warn global warming makes extreme weather more likely
Residents are covered in frost while exercising outdoors during cold weather in the northeastern city of Shenyang. – AFPPIC
BEIJING: More low temperature records tumbled across China
yesterday, as the country endures a persistent cold snap that has crowned a year of extreme weather.
The national weather office said in a social media post that more than 20 stations posted all-time December lows in the early hours of yesterday.
They included Hohhot, capital of the northern Inner Mongolia region, where a reading of -29.1°C broke a nearly 70-year record.
The weather office on Wednesday said five stations had logged all-time lows, including a bone-numbing -33.2°C in the northern city of Datong.
In northwestern Gansu province, where an earthquake on Monday killed 135, survivors have spent several freezing nights outdoors in makeshift tents.
Authorities have issued an alert for low temperatures across a vast area of northern, eastern and southeastern China.
China’s financial hub Shanghai was also set to record its chilliest period in December in four decades, spurring authorities to issue warnings for low temperatures and wind.
Wang Kaiyun, 59, a cleaner in downtown Shanghai who commutes from the city’s suburbs on an electric scooter, said the temperature was -5°C on her one-hour ride yesterday.
“Even though I was wearing gloves, I quickly lost feeling in my hands and they are still painful.”
While the city’s temperatures remain far warmer than those in northern China, the run of cold weather was unusual for Shanghai.
The city’s weather bureau said it expects the minimum temperature at one downtown reading station to remain below zero for five straight days until Dec 25, a run of cold in the month of December that has not occurred in 40 years.
