Record-Breaking Asian Heatwave.

[Coast]

 

China’s Simmering Summer: Frying Bacon and Eggs on the Street

 

There’s no doubt about it – this summer is hot in China. Record-breaking temperatures are pushing thermometer numbers upwards of 40 degrees C (104 F) in at least 40 cities and counties across the nation.

 

An image of a child in the city of Jinan frying up eggs and shrimp in a skillet sitting on manhole cover has appeared on newspaper pages. One Shanghai television reporter simply threw some pork slices on an outdoor marble surface and stood back while the BBQ ensued. Reportedly, road pavement heats to temperatures as high as 60 degrees C (140 F).

 

In the port city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, glass has reportedly cracked in the heat, which has induced vehicles to self-combust and a highway billboard to spontaneously burst into flames. Meanwhile, a woman in Hunan province purchased eggs at a grocery store from which half-hatched chicks emerged after sitting at room temperature. Other photos documenting life amid these awful conditions can be seen here, courtesy of The Telegraph.

 

Most citizens have noted these indicators of summer misery from the relative comfort of their living rooms – where they are resting under whirring ceiling fans and full-blast air conditioning. One Shanghai doctor even advised patients to disregard the cultural bias against air conditioning, which perceives the cooling technology as an unhealthy wasteful luxury.

 

“I’ve been staying at home, ordering in food, taking cabs and going out as little as possible,†Joyce Cai, a Shanghainese office worker, told The Diplomat. “It is definitely hotter than usual. Usually we only get a few days each summer that are this hot. But this year it’s lasting for like a month.â€

 

This is no exaggeration. These scorching temperatures have been cooking Shanghai since early July and are expected to plague most of the nation through mid-August. Shanghai recorded its highest temperature on record on July 26 – 40.6 degrees C (105 F) – and yesterday the metropolis suffered through the 28th day with temperatures over 35 C. Alongside Shanghai, the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Fujian, as well as the municipality of Chongqing, are among the most torrid areas.

 

The heat wave, which is the worst the nation has seen in 140 years in some parts, has killed dozens and prompted authorities – especially in the south – to issue level 2 weather emergency warnings. Normally, this degree of severity is reserved for typhoons and floods. In total, 10 people have died of heat stroke in Shanghai alone this past month, according to Xinhua.

 

Yet, many have to work in these conditions. Spare a thought for the nation’s untold numbers of street vendors, including the ubiquitous street food sellers toiling over woks on open-flame propane stoves.

 

Or, “Like those cleaning workers on the street – I think they're having a horrible time this year,†Cai said. “Some people have passed out on the street, some have died. It’s just terrible. You see poor old ladies doing their best to get around, carrying umbrellas, wiping themselves with towels.â€

 

“It’s awful here too,†a Beijing resident told The Diplomat. “But at least pollution isn’t blotting out the sky. There's a white collar legend that there is a temperature that's illegal to work in and no one dares report that it gets that hot.â€

 

There seems to be some truth to this, according to this report (in Chinese), which states that outdoor work should be stopped when thermometers break the 40-degree-C barrier.

 

“That’s why it never gets reported if it goes above 40 degrees,†Cai said. “It was a workday when the temperature hit above 40 degrees. I wish I could have taken the day off. It’s hard to breathe outside in this heat!â€

 

Apparently, this is the (heat) wave of the future – much of it human induced.

 

“This is the future. Get used to it,†Andrew Dressler of Texas A&M University told AP. “You often hear people say, ‘Oh, we'll just adapt to the changing climate.’ It turns out that that's a lot harder than it sounds, as the people in China are finding out now.â€

 

“Human-caused warming sure ups the odds of heat waves like this one,†Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona, told The Christian Science Monitor. According to Overpeck the heat now sweeping China “gives a very real face to what global warming is all about.â€

 

 

 

http://thediplomat.com/asia-life/2013/08/chinas-simmering-summer-frying-bacon-and-eggs-on-the-street/

Edited August 4, 2013 by Coast

[Coast]

http://youtu.be/bL2zfN-ZAUM

[su rui ke]

I'm in Ningbo just now and, yes, it's hot! It's surprising how you do get used to it after a few days though - of course, having air-conditioning makes a big difference. Most people seem to be coping by not going out in the afternoon if they can avoid it.

 

This is forecast to be the last 40C day. Maximum temperatures should drop by a few degrees over the next few days. That's still above the August average of around 32C though.

[Coast]

 

China tries £20m hi-tech raindance as country roasts in heatwave

 

Dry ice to be fired at clouds to entice precipitation as crops threatened by drought, after temperatures pass 40C

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/china-rain-heatwave-tech

[Polar Maritime]

This image shows the temperatures recorded on the island of Taiwan, Thursday afternoon local time, when all-time record temperatures were reached.

The city of Taipei, at the northeastern portion of the island, reached 39.3 degrees celsius on Thursday afternoon, breaking the all-time temperature record in that city. High temperatures covered both the area around Taipei and much of the rest of the island. A high pressure system has built over the area, keeping weather hot and dry for several days.

The only real way out of the heat is to head up. Temperatures under 20 degrees Celsius can only be found above 2500 meters elevation (over 8000 feet).

 

 

Image credit:
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V7e/observe/temperature/

Press report:
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201308080019.aspx

 

 

 

[Interitus]

It was the highest temperature for Taipei in 117 years of measurements, however the Taiwan record remains at 40.2°C from Taitung City on 01/07/2004 -

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/08/09/2003569264

[Methuselah]

It was the highest temperature for Taipei in 117 years of measurements, however the Taiwan record remains at 40.2°C from Taitung City on 01/07/2004 -

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/08/09/2003569264

It must be a 'heat island'? 

[Styx]

Japan ( 41.0C ) and South Korea ( 39.2C ) record their highest national temperatures ever recorded. All part of the same weather setup which has produced record temperatures in eastern China, inclusive of Taiwan.

 

'The east Asian heatwave of 2013' joins the 'Australian heatwave summer of 2013' in terms of unprecedented scope.

 

Japan, South Korea soar to hottest recorded levels

By Jason Samenow, Published: August 12 at 4:21 pmE-mail the writer

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South Koreans swim at Caribbean Bay swimming pool in South Korea’s largest amusement park Everland in Yongin, about 50 km (31 miles) south of Seoul August 11, 2013. South Korea has been suffering from the sweltering heat wave for weeks with temperatures in most parts of the country soaring above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), reported a local news agency (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)

 

Late last week Austria and Slovenia established new records for extreme heat in central Europe. Moving east, we can now add South Korea and Japan to the list of countries with new high temperature records, courtesy the summer of 2013.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/08/12/japan-south-korea-soar-to-hottest-recorded-levels/

Edited August 13, 2013 by Styx

[Interitus]

The 41.0° is a new Japan record and Tokyo recorded its highest night minimum of 30.4°C, but according to the Korean Meteorological Agency their record remains the 40.0°C at Daegu on 01/08/1942 - http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/biz/climate_01.jsp

 

For more on this heat wave (and extremes in general) see Christopher Burt's excellent blog on wunderground - http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/show.html

 

In particular the Chinese city of Hangzhou has matched or exceeded its previous record of 40.3°C twelve times this year.

[nitro_deluxe]

Added heat has also increased convective potential..somewhat! Tokyo lightning bolt via electric train.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ad_1376381742

[su rui ke]

The 41.0° is a new Japan record and Tokyo recorded its highest night minimum of 30.4°C, but according to the Korean Meteorological Agency their record remains the 40.0°C at Daegu on 01/08/1942 - http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/biz/climate_01.jsp

 

For more on this heat wave (and extremes in general) see Christopher Burt's excellent blog on wunderground - http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/show.html

 

In particular the Chinese city of Hangzhou has matched or exceeded its previous record of 40.3°C twelve times this year.

 

 

 

The local news here in Ningbo (in Zhejiang, same province as Hangzhou) was highlighting a temperature of 44.1C a couple of nights ago. I assume that, as they were giving such a precise value, it meant another record of some sort had been broken. It might be a record for the province - I'll try and find out. I suspect the Chinese national record is still held by somewhere out in the Xingjiang desert. That's a completely different climate from 'China proper' though so not really comparable.

 

Here in eastern China the heatwave is easing slightly although there are still large areas experiencing temperatures above 35C and a few spots still above 40C. If anything, areas to the north of Shanghai have become slighty hotter over the last few days. Widespread warnings are still in force.

 

There is severe flooding in Heilongjiang in the northeast - this has also been affecting N Korea - and a severe typhoon about to make landfall in Guangdong. The national weather forecasts here can make ours look a little dull sometimes!

 

Edited August 14, 2013 by su rui ke

[Coast]

 

Dozens Die in North Asia Heat Wave as Power Supply Strained

 

Record temperatures across North Asia have killed dozens and pushed electricity grids to near breaking point, forcing governments to introduce emergency measures as more of the same heat is forecast.

 

Air-conditioning in South Korea’s public buildings has been shut off as the government yesterday warned of power shortages. China has opened air-raid shelters as makeshift cooling stations, while thousands in Japan have been hospitalized for heatstroke. Enlarge image Dozens Die in Asia Heat Wave as Power Supply Strained to Limits  People take shelter from record-hitting heatwave in a governmental meeting center in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, China on Aug. 10, 

 

“We are in a critical situation where, if any single power generator goes wrong, we will have to resort to rolling blackouts just like we did in 2011,†Yoon Sang Jick, South Korea’s minister of trade, industry and energy, said in a speech on Aug. 11. Shanghai hit a record 40.8 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) on Aug. 7, according to the meteorological bureau, as the city endured its hottest summer in 140 years. In southern Japan, temperatures in Shimanto city peaked at 41 degrees Celsius yesterday, the highest ever recorded in the country, according to the meteorological agency.

 

Eight people have died of heatstroke across South Korea as of Aug. 11, while 867 people have been hospitalized, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. Seventeen people in Japan were killed by heatstroke between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, with more than 9,800 in the hospital for treatment.

 

Critical Period

 

In China, at least 11 people have died from heatstroke since July, the Shanghai Daily reported Aug. 1, citing local authorities.

“The hot summer this year is not a result of human activities, but it is true we have increasingly hotter summers and global warming is in the background,†said Takehiko Mikami, a climatology professor at Teikyo University in Tokyo. The record temperatures are a result of multilayered high pressure systems extending over much of the region, including Japan, South Korea and China, Kenji Okada, a forecaster at the Japan Meteorological Agency, said today. “Descending air currents get heated when compressed by many layers of high pressure,†Okada said by phone from Tokyo. “A lack of low pressure between the layers makes it difficult to create clouds, preventing temperatures from falling even at night. Normally, temperatures are reset by the next morning, but that isn’t happening now.†The pattern will remain for some time, Okada said.

 

Pressure on Utilities

 

In South Korea’s case, the three days through Aug. 14 are considered to be the most critical. Demand may peak at 80,500 megawatts on Aug. 13, while supply is forecast at 77,130 megawatts, leaving the country 3,370 megawatts short, the energy ministry said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. South Korea’s Yoon on Sunday urged public institutions, companies and households to cut power usage as much as possible from 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. during those three days. The heat wave heightens pressure on utilities, particularly in Japan and Korea where safety concerns have prompted the shuttering of nuclear power stations.

Two of South Korea’s 23 reactors were halted earlier this year and the restart of another was delayed when safety certificates for components used at the facilities were found to be faked. In Japan, all but two of the nation’s reactors are shut following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

 

Electricity Demand Rises

 

In Japan, the absence of nuclear power has forced utilities to turn to conventional fossil fuels. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501), the operator of the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic plant, almost doubled coal consumption in July after turning to coal-fired plants to meet customer needs. Demand for electricity in Tokyo Electric’s service areas reached 50,930 megawatts on Aug. 9, the highest this fiscal year, according to data on the utility’s website. Tepco, as the utility is known, estimates power demand may reach 90 percent of capacity in the two weeks through Aug. 23, it said Aug. 9 on its website. Tepco, which has about 29 million customers in Metropolitan Tokyo, will seek electricity supplies from other companies and postpone maintenance at thermal and hydro power plants should demand spike, spokeswoman Kaoru Suzuki said by phone today.

 

Reserve Margins

 

Japan’s utilities have so far been able to keep their reserve margins -- generating capacity not used to satisfy demand -- at higher than 3 percent, which is considered the lower limit for a stable electricity supply, said Takehiro Kawahara, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “If the heat wave continues and the reserve margin becomes less than 3 percent, the national government and utilities will probably need to commit to more energy-saving efforts, asking businesses and consumers to save electricity,†Kawahara said. The heat wave hit in force as millions of Tokyo residents left the city for home towns and villages for the o-bon summer holidays, when many companies and businesses shut for the week.

 

In Onjuku, a town on the east coast of Chiba prefecture about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Tokyo, thousands of visitors have packed the town’s beaches to cool off. In Tokyo’s Otematchi financial district, the mercury reached 38.3 degrees Celsius on Aug. 11, the fourth-highest on record for the area, according to agency data.

 

Power Production

 

An increase in Shanghai’s residential water tariffs has been postponed by a month to Sept. 1 as high temperatures are expected to continue, the government said in a statement on its website. Some residents of the city have turned to social media to call for the government to lower electricity prices. Elsewhere in China, Hefei, Hangzhou, Xi’an and Chongqing cities have opened local air-raid shelters for citizens to keep cool, the Xinhua News Agency reported July 2, citing people it didn’t identify. Seven provinces in China had record-high power production in July due to heat waves in east and southwest China, according to a July 29 statement on the website of State Grid Corp. of China, the nation’s dominant power distributor.

 

China’s power production increased to an all-time high in July. Electricity generation climbed 8.1 percent to 479.5 billion kilowatt-hours last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing showed Aug. 9, the highest monthly figure on record.

Temperatures are expected to rise to 35 degrees Celsius or higher again today in much of Japan including the Kyushu and Shikoku islands, according to Japan’s meteorological agency. “We expect both maximum and minimum temperature will be higher than average or much higher in some locations,†the agency said today in its weekly forecast. The agency began issuing heat advisories two years ago to warn of heatstroke amid a push across Japan to save energy following the Fukushima nuclear accident.

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-13/dozens-die-in-asia-heat-wave-as-power-supply-strained-to-limits.html

[Coast]

[Methuselah]

Ah, so!

[su rui ke]

This thread seems a bit more active than the 'China' one so, as it's all related, I think I'll continue posting here.

 

I found the temperature records for 11 July to 9 August for Hangzhou posted on Wunderground. Hangzhou is about 100 miles south west of Shanghai. It might help to give an idea of how recent conditions compare to 'normal'. The hot weather has been so persistent that heat 'wave' doesn't really do it justice!

 

The long-term average maximum temperature for this period in Hangzhou is about 33C. In order, for the 30 days in the period I mentioned, the maxima were:

 

39.5, 37.9, 34.4, 36.6, 35.2, 36.4, 37.7, 36.7, 37.7, 36.2, 35.9, 36.5, 39.6, 40.4, 40.3, 40.3, 40.5, 40.1, 39.8, 40.5, 39.6, 39.0, 32.6, 33.5, 37.0, 40.2, 41.0, 41.2, 41.2, 41.6

 

Only one day (2 August) possibly recorded a maximum temperature belong the long-term average - I don't know the average to one decimal place so can't be sure. For the record, the lowest minimum during this 30-day period was 23.3. The highest minimum was 30.6 on 9 August.

[Coast]

This thread seems a bit more active than the 'China' one so, as it's all related, I think I'll continue posting here.

 

All merged now!

 

 

South Korea bakes in extreme heat amid power cuts

 

The timing could hardly be worse. South Korea is roasting in a record-breaking heatwave but doesn't have the electricity to crank up the air conditioning, as several power plants have shut down following a safety scandal.

 

Extreme heat has struck much of east Asia in recent weeks, including China, South Korea and Japan. Temperatures in southern China have hit 42 °C, and Japan set a record high at 41 °C on Tuesday. In South Korea, temperatures hit an all-time high of 39.2  °C last Saturday. Dozens are reported dead across the region.

 

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24041-south-korea-bakes-in-extreme-heat-amid-power-cuts.html#.Ugt6YdK-2uI

[forecaster]

I would like to see some evidence that the Aus heatwave of January this year was unprecedented in scope on a global scale. I know that for Australia, it was unusual for the entire continent to be experiencing heatwave conditions, but Australia is tiny compared with Asia, and also North America. So it would be interesting to see if the horizontal scale of the Aus heatwave was anything really very special in comparison. 

 

 

Japan ( 41.0C ) and South Korea ( 39.2C ) record their highest national temperatures ever recorded. All part of the same weather setup which has produced record temperatures in eastern China, inclusive of Taiwan.

 

'The east Asian heatwave of 2013' joins the 'Australian heatwave summer of 2013' in terms of unprecedented scope.

[Styx]

I would like to see some evidence that the Aus heatwave of January this year was unprecedented in scope on a global scale. I know that for Australia, it was unusual for the entire continent to be experiencing heatwave conditions, but Australia is tiny compared with Asia, and also North America. So it would be interesting to see if the horizontal scale of the Aus heatwave was anything really very special in comparison. 

 

This is not an Asian-wide heatwave event though... far from it!

 

Based on what I have read to be true, it encompasses almost exclusively the eastern half of China only and provinces in the south east,  together with Japan and South Korea, across waters to the east. A crude estimate in terms of geographical area - anywhere between 4 and 7 million square km. But covering somwhere between 5-7% of the world's population. Hence the media coverage ( justified ).

 

Continental Asia though covers 44 million sq kilometres!

Incidentally, Australia is about 7 million square kilometres.

 

In terms of spatial extent, both heatwaes in seperate continents were similar in terms of significance vis historical context. So too the 'European heatwave 2003'...which of course was not European-wide, but covered a similar area.

 

Is it possible for heatwaves to cover a larger area than about 5-7 million square km though, anywhere? The further beyond ground zero you go, you run into different climate drivers. And heatwaves are based upon stagnant high pressure systems which can only extend so far, blocked by significant weather systems on the other end of the scale on either side. 

 

I think the comparison between Australia and east-north east Asia heatwave is true enough - more interestingly though,they have happened in the same year.        

Edited August 15, 2013 by Styx

[Coast]

 

For the past few weeks Beijing has been either a furnace or a sauna, depending on the rain, as China endures its hottest summer in more than half a century.

 

The press is full of the most alarming stories as the country sweats through its second major heat wave this year. In the southern city of Wuhan, witnesses last weekend reported seeing a willow tree spontaneously burst into flames, “which rarely happens under normal circumstances,†according to a local forestry expert. In the eastern province of Zhejiang the same thing happened to a billboard, which presumably is equally unusual.

 

I myself have sometimes felt I was about to go up in flames recently, and I am not alone. The Chinese National Meteorological Center announced on Monday that temperatures had exceeded 95 degrees Fahrenheit in eight provinces on more than 25 of the previous 41 days. It hasn’t been that hot here since 1961. For the first time ever the government has declared the heat to be a level two weather emergency – a warning normally reserved for typhoons and floods – amid reports that more than 40 people have died from the high temperatures.

 

There is not much to be done about it, of course, except stay indoors as much as possible if you have air conditioning, which most city-dwellers do nowadays. Those that don’t have been flocking to malls – not for the shopping but for their cool air. Some brave entrepreneurs have been profiting from the soaring temperatures. Near the city of Turpan in the far-western desert province of Xinjiang, a stall holder at a popular tourist spot at the foot of Flaming Mountain has been baking eggs in the 108 degree Fahrenheit heat and selling them for 90 cents a pop.

 

Farmers, of course, are taking a different view of the record-breaking heat, especially in southern provinces where drought is taking its toll. They have suffered losses of $760 million, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as their crops have shriveled.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/china-heat-wave-beware-spontaneously-combusting-trees-billboards-122905534.html

 

[Coast]

 

[forecaster]

This is not an Asian-wide heatwave event though... far from it!

 

Based on what I have read to be true, it encompasses almost exclusively the eastern half of China only and provinces in the south east,  together with Japan and South Korea, across waters to the east. A crude estimate in terms of geographical area - anywhere between 4 and 7 million square km. But covering somwhere between 5-7% of the world's population. Hence the media coverage ( justified ).

 

Continental Asia though covers 44 million sq kilometres!

Incidentally, Australia is about 7 million square kilometres.

 

In terms of spatial extent, both heatwaes in seperate continents were similar in terms of significance vis historical context. So too the 'European heatwave 2003'...which of course was not European-wide, but covered a similar area.

 

Is it possible for heatwaves to cover a larger area than about 5-7 million square km though, anywhere? The further beyond ground zero you go, you run into different climate drivers. And heatwaves are based upon stagnant high pressure systems which can only extend so far, blocked by significant weather systems on the other end of the scale on either side. 

 

I think the comparison between Australia and east-north east Asia heatwave is true enough - more interestingly though,they have happened in the same year.        

 

Interesting points and questions. There may be a fundamental limit on the spatial extent of genuine heatwaves (though not necessarily on "above average temperatures"). It would make sense. I would expect it to be related to the dominant Rossby wavenumber at a given time and latitude. 

 

"And heatwaves are based upon stagnant high pressure systems which can only extend so far, blocked by significant weather systems on the other end of the scale on either side. "

 

Yep, what I'll do when I get chance is look at some reanalysis data of the 500hPa heights comparing the likes of the Aus 13 heatwave with something such as the 10 Russian heatwave or recent US heatwaves. Will be interesting to see how far the anoamlous heights stretched for in all these cases.....

 

cheers