China issued high temperature alerts for 25 straight days, some tourists spots shut, some regions restrict industrial power use

 

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China’s meteorological authorities have issued high temperature alerts for 25 consecutive days, and experts believe the country is experiencing the strongest heatwave in six decades.

China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Sunday issued a red alert – the highest in China’s four-tier weather warning system for extreme heat – for some parts of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Regions and Shaanxi province as well as East China’s Jiangsu province, issuing such warnings for the 25th day in a row. 

Zhushan, a city in Central China’s Hubei province, saw temperature surpassing 44 degrees Celsius on Saturday, making it the hottest Chinese city. Jiangsu issued a warning on Sunday saying that surface temperature of some parts of the province will exceed 72 degrees Celsius. 

More than 10 provincial-level regions, including Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, experienced temperatures from 40 C to 42 C over the weekend. 

Some tourist spots also closed due to the high temperature. Operator of the 71-meter tall Giant Buddha of Leshan, one of the most important cultural treasures of China, in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province announced on Sunday that it will close the feet area of the statue to tourists, because of high temperature. 

The high temperature also resulted in drought in many parts of China, including Henan, one of the biggest food producers in the country, and many provinces alongside the Yangtze River. The Henan provincial government issued a notice on Sunday asking local governments to closely monitor the drought, and to divert water in a scientific manner and exploit new water sources for people in drought areas. 

The CMA held a video meeting on Sunday to deploy work on coping with the drought in the southern parts of China, and flood prevention in the northern parts of China. 

The high temperature is also pushing electricity consumption to a limit. According to statistics from State Grid Corporation of China, electricity sales in the financial hub of Shanghai rose by 38.4% in July from a year earlier, and the figure rose to 40.24% in the first week of August. 

Many regions, including East China’s Zhejiang province and Southwest China’s Sichuan province recently announced plans to restrict enterprises with high power consumption.

Southwestern China’s Sichuan province will expand the restrictions on electricity consumption by enterprises in 19 cities of the province, with industrial power users on the list subject to the restrictions required to suspend production during the period of August 15 – 20, according to a notice released by the Sichuan provincial authority and the local branch of the State Grid of China on Monday.

The move is aimed at ensuring power supply to household users and make sure there won’t be power outage as power demand-supply situation tightens further, according to the notice.