Move FM Global News

BEIJING, China: Chinese state media reported that a remote township in the arid northwest endured temperatures of more than 126 degrees Fahrenheit on July 16, a record high temperature after China experienced -50C weather just six months ago.

The state-run Xinjiang Daily reported this week that temperatures at Sanbao township in Xinjiang’s Turpan Depression were as high as 52.2C, with the record highs expected to last for at least another five days.

The July 16 temperature broke a previous record of 50.3C, measured in 2015 near Ayding in the depression.

Since April, countries across Asia have been reporting extreme heat.

Prolonged bouts of high temperatures in China have challenged power grids and crops, and concerns are mounting of a possible repeat of last year’s drought, the most severe in 60 years.

According to the local weather bureau, on 22nd January, temperatures in Mohe, northeastern Heilongjiang province, dropped to -53C, beating the country’s previous all-time low of minus 52.3C set in 1969.

The highest rainfall in a decade also hit central China, damaging wheat fields in an area known as the country’s granary.