SHENZHEN, China: Several regions of China, including the major southwestern city of Chongqing, baked in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while the country's national observatory continued its red alert for high temperatures.
A meteorological official said in Zhejiang, home to many factories and exporters, the eastern province broke its previous record for high temperature days this year, with 31 days above 35 degrees Celsius and 16 days above 38 degrees Celsius.
With Chongqing, which saw temperatures up to 42.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Anhui, Xinjiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian were among the provinces and regions where temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.
A thunderstorm appeared to have helped spare Shanghai from breaking its 40.9 degrees Celsius record on Saturday, but residents of the commercial hub of 25 million still expressed fatigue from the ongoing heatwave.
It's like being in a steamer, it's really hot, said 70-year old resident Shen Fengming. Even if you don't walk around the outside, you'll still end up sweating. "I went to our port and walked around," said 45-year-old Huang Yi, who works at a container port. It was just an hour, but my clothes and pants were all wet. The temperature this year is particularly high compared to years before. The country's average ground temperatures have risen much more quickly than the global average over the past 70 years and will remain much higher in the future due to the challenges of climate change.