Each part of the country should prepare for its own combination of extreme weather risks this winter, the China Meteorological Administration said on Saturday, with the world on track to have its hottest year on record in 2023.
“Cold air will be active periodically, while the southern region will receive more rain. The risk of compound meteorological disasters will increase,” it said.
“Predictions show the temperature in most parts of the country from this winter to next spring will be close to or higher than the same period of past years.”
02:32
July 2023 expected to be world’s hottest month in recorded history
July 2023 expected to be world’s hottest month in recorded history
El Nino is a natural climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean that brings warmer sea-surface temperatures, often leading to heatwaves, droughts and floods around the world.
The administration said the event would result in more precipitation in the south, with sleet posing a threat to power transmission, transport and crops.
While the weather is forecast to be warmer in the north, there could be a number of snowstorms across the region and on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, pushing energy demand for heating higher, according to the administration.
Much of southwest China would be at higher risk of forest fire because of higher temperatures and less precipitation, and parts of the northwest and southwest could experience drought, the administration said.
In central and eastern China, fog and haze are expected to build up, affecting health and traffic, particularly in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and on the Fenhe-Weihe Plain which mainly covers Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.
01:52
Deadly floods hit China’s Chongqing as President Xi Jinping warns all main rivers are at risk
Deadly floods hit China’s Chongqing as President Xi Jinping warns all main rivers are at risk
China has battled a series of weather-related disasters this year, including catastrophic flooding in the summer that killed at least 33 people in Beijing and 29 in neighbouring Hebei province.
In all, nearly 4 million people were affected by the disaster.
President Xi Jinping visited these areas on Friday, touring a village, housing estate, school and farm, according to state news agency Xinhua.
During the tour, Xi called for continued post-flood reconstruction efforts to ensure residents would be warm during winter.
At a water diversion project on the Yongding River in Beijing’s Mentougou district, Xi said mountainous areas such as Mentougou and Fangshan districts were key in the city’s flood control efforts.
“It is necessary to build and use infrastructure such as reservoirs, and to improve flood-resistance standards for roads, houses and other buildings in mountainous areas to strengthen flood control and resistance capabilities,” he said.
Globally, monthly temperature records were broken in June, July, August, September and October, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
In July, the Earth’s hottest month on record, United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said “the era of global boiling has arrived”, signalling that the global warming stage was ending.