China records 2024 as warmest year on record

(CLO) Meteorological data from China shows that 2024 was the warmest year since the country began recording data in 1961, the second consecutive year that records were broken.

According to weather.com.cn, a service portal run by the China Meteorological Administration, the average national temperature was 10.92 degrees Celsius last year, 1 degree higher than in 2023.

The service's portal said the 10 warmest years since records began in 1961 have all occurred in the 21st century. Shanghai, China's major financial hub, also recorded its highest average temperature since the Qing Dynasty, at 18.8 degrees Celsius, higher than any year since records began in 1873.

Illustration: Unsplash

The rise in temperatures has been accompanied by extreme weather, including stronger storms and higher rainfall, leading to soaring electricity consumption in the world’s second-largest economy. The prolonged heat has also severely affected agriculture, especially in southern rice-growing regions.

China has launched research to grow food crops that can adapt to high temperatures, aiming to protect food security.

But if no alternative is found, crop yields are at risk of falling significantly. Scientists in Beijing found that potatoes grown at 3 degrees Celsius above normal temperatures weighed 50 percent less than normal potatoes.

According to a United Nations report in October, under current climate policies, global temperatures could rise by up to 3.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, with severe impacts across the globe.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters, AFP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/trung-quoc-ghi-nhan-2024-la-nam-am-nhat-lich-su-post328661.html