Tourists visit the Palace Museum in Beijing on high temperature day of 40 C on June 24, 2023. Photo: IC

Beijing experienced a record-breaking heat wave with temperatures surpassing 40 C for three consecutive days from Thursday to Saturday. Although a slight decrease in the intensity of high temperatures is expected on Sunday and Monday, the forecast predicts a "prolonged battle" against high temperatures in the following week.

Beijing's Nanjiao Meteorological Observatory recorded the third consecutive high temperature day of above 40 C around 1:51 pm on Saturday, according to weather.com.cn.

As of Saturday, Beijing has experienced 11 high temperature days in June, tying with the record set previously. The previous record of 11 high temperature days in June in Beijing was set in 1952 and 2000, according to The Beijing News.

Besides, Beijing has experienced three consecutive days with ground surface temperatures exceeding 60 C, per the observatory. As of 3 pm on Saturday, the highest ground surface temperature reached 66.1 C, the Nanjiao Meteorological Observatory observed. On Thursday, the ground surface temperature reached 71.8 C, the second-highest in history, and the highest land surface temperature reached 61.8 C on Friday, according to the Beijing meteorological observatory.

Beijing is experiencing the third heat wave this year. The Beijing weather forecast bureau has predicted the temperature will reach 37 C on Sunday and 35 C on Monday, and after the brief decrease in intensity of high temperature over the two days, Beijing will enter into a "prolonged battle" against high temperature for the following week, with the possibility of the high heat once again exceeding 40 C.

According to the meteorologists from the local meteorological observatory, there are four main factors causing the intensity and duration of the current heat wave.

Starting from June 21, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been experiencing the influence of a warm air mass that is relatively strong in intensity and has a prolonged impact. Due to the high-pressure ridge's control, the skies are clear with only a few clouds, allowing for stronger radiative heating and further amplifying the rise in temperature.

The duration of daytime is at its longest around the Summer Solstice, which contributes to the occurrence and sustenance of high temperatures. Furthermore, the low air humidity and dry weather conditions also contribute to the temperature rise.

Apart from Beijing, the land surface temperature in many places in North China has exceeded 60 C as of 2 pm on Saturday.

The highest land surface temperature of 72.4 C was recorded in Bazhou city in North China's Hebei Province. It was followed by 71.4 C recorded in Bairin Right Banner in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and 70.3 C in Wucheng county and 70.2 C in Linyi county in East China's Shandong Province. All of these temperatures broke the previous local observation records. In addition, Langfang city in Hebei Province also reached 70.6 C, which is rarely seen in history.

Global Times