China logs 52.2C as extreme weather rewrites records
A remote township in China's remote and arid northwest experienced scorching temperatures of over 52 Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) on Sunday, making it a record-breaking event for a country that battled minus 50C weather just half a year ago.
Sanbao township, situated in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression, faced a sweltering heatwave with temperatures reaching 52.2C on Sunday, as reported by state-run Xinjiang Daily on Monday. The record-breaking heat is expected to persist for at least another five days.
This new record surpassed the previous one of 50.3C, which was recorded in 2015 near Ayding in the depression, a vast basin characterized by sand dunes and dried-up lakes, lying more than 150 meters (492 feet) below sea level.
Since April, various countries in Asia have experienced multiple episodes of record-breaking heat, raising concerns about their ability to cope with the rapidly changing climate. Climate experts warn that the goal of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5C is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.
Prolonged periods of extreme heat in China have placed immense pressure on power grids and agriculture. Worries are growing about the possibility of a repeat of last year's severe drought, which was the most intense in six decades.
In a striking contrast, just six months ago, on January 22, temperatures in Mohe, a city in northeastern Heilongjiang province, plummeted to a bone-chilling minus 53C, smashing China's previous all-time low of minus 52.3C, which was recorded in 1969 by the local weather bureau.
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