Shanghai Sets Yet Another Record High Temp.

Shanghai issues a fifth red alert for heat, as city sets a new record high of 40.8ºC

Having experienced its hottest July on record, Shanghai set a record-high temperature of 40.6ºC on July 26. That record was broken today, when the mercury soared to a new high of 40.8ºC (105.5ºF), said  a report.

The city also set a new record for the number of consecutive hot days in July, with temperatures exceeding 38ºC for eight straight days.

The heat is expected to persist in Shanghai until Sunday, forecasters said.

The heat wave is reportedly the worst to hit China in 140 years, leaving scores of people dead.

Among the effects of the scorching summer heat has been a rise in demand for ambulances. “Ambulances are being dispatched 1,000 times a day, while on extremely hot days it’s more than 1,100 times,” said Shanghai Medical Emergency Center.

Severe Drought Continues to Spread in SW China

Meantime, a severe drought continues to spread across southwest China affecting at least 15.11 million people in one province alone.

Drought in southwest China’s Guizhou province, which began mid-June, has spread to 27 counties, leaving 13 areas severely affected, said the Guizhou Provincial Government.

Drought has affected tens of millions of people in southern, southwestern, eastern and central China, leaving millions of people and livestock short of drinking water, and damaging or destroying millions of hectares of crops.

Mining every last drop of water

Original caption: Villagers search for water in a karst cave at Shimen Village of Songtao County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Aug. 6, 2013. A lingering drought has left about 2.25 million people short of drinking water in the province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu). More images…

Original caption: Farmers prepare to dig a well on the dried riverbed in Shitingzi Township of Qidong County, central China’s Hunan Province, Aug. 1, 2013. As of July 31, lingering droughts have affected many parts in Hunan. Nearly 1.29 million people lack adequate supplies of drinking water, and a total of 786,000 hectares of farmland is damaged by the drought. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao). More images…

Farmers fear for crops as S. China drought drags on

Original caption. Photo taken on Aug. 2, 2013 shows a dried corn in Baji Village of Zunyi County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Lingering droughts in Guizhou have affected more than 12 million people. Over 2 million people lack adequate supplies of drinking water, and a total of 12.7 million mu (about 847,300 hectares)of farmland is damaged by the drought. (Xinhua/Yang Ying). More images…

Related Links

• Major Catastrophe Unfolding in China
• China’s Latest Drought Disaster Figures

2012 one of 10 warmest years on record globally

The following excerpts are from ‘State of the Climate in 2012,’ a 2-dimentional annual report prepared by the American Meteorological Society (AMS), with researchers from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC acting as lead editors.

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Earth more rapidly warming since 1970: Report

Since 1976, the earth has experienced annual temperatures above the long-term average. The rate of warming is 0.06°C (0.11°F) per decade since 1880 and a more rapid 0.16°C (0.28°F) per decade since 1970, according to the 2012 annual report from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

Earth’s average annual surface temperature is higher today than it was when record keeping began more than a century ago. The red line shows how far above or below the 1981–2010 average (dashed line at zero) the combined land and ocean temperature has been each year since 1880. The data shown are from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, one of several temperature analyses included in the State of the Climate in 2012, all of which show a similar warming trend. Graph adapted from Figure 2.1, in BAMS State of the Climate in 2012.

The largest of warm anomalies in 2012 were observed across the Northern Hemisphere higher latitudes: The United States,  Canada, southern Europe, western Russia and the Russian Far East, said the report.

Sea levels reached record highs in 2012. Globally, sea level has been increasing at an average rate of 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year over the past two decades.

The global surface temperature ranked among the top 10 warmest years on record. Over land and ocean combined, 2012 was between 0.14° and 0.17° Celsius (0.25°and 0.31° Fahrenheit) above the 1981–2010 average, depending on the analysis. The globally averaged annual temperature over land was 0.24°–0.29°C (0.43°-0.52°F) above average. And averaged globally, the 2012 ocean temperature was 0.10°–0.14°C (0.18°-0.25°F) above average. [NOAA]

Surface temperatures in 2012 compared to the 1981-2010 average. NOAA map by Dan Pisut, NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab, based on based on Merged Land and Ocean Surface Temperature data from the National Climatic Data Center. Full report is posted HERE.

Related Links [External]

• State of the Climate: 2011 Global Surface Temperature
• Past Three Decades Warmest on Record