China: Hottest June in over 60 years

AP
A woman wearing a mask walks in Beijing on July 7.

The average monthly temperature across China reached 21.3 C in June, the hottest June since 1961, the country’s top meteorological agency said on July 5.

The June temperature was 0.9 C higher than usual. Many regions including central China’s Henan Province and east China’s Shandong Province registered the highest June temperature in history, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

Heat waves blanketed parts of China from June 13 to June 26, affecting over 600 million people. A county in north China’s Hebei Province saw its temperature hit 44.2 C on June 25.

Fang Xiang, deputy director of China’s National Meteorological Center, attributed the high June average temperature to the strong warm high which controlled north China’s weather during that period.