This big China environmental story, 12–18 May
Various regions of China are experiencing abnormal weather this month,
including extreme heat, rainfall and drought.
In some parts of the country, these conditions have followed one another in
quick succession, in what are known as “compound events”.
On 6 May, the temperature exceeded 41C in the
Changjiang and Lingao counties of Hainan, China’s southernmost island,
according to the Hainan Provincial Climate Center.
A drought has lasted for several months in the southern parts of south-western
China, mainly in some areas of Yunnan, and will continue on through May, the
National Meteorological Administration predicted.
In early May, heavy rain hit Hunan and Fujian, where Beijing News described it
as “pouring water”, and Jiangxi and Guizhou.
Jiangxi, in central China, seemed to suffer most, with about 10 counties
experiencing torrential rain, and a river embankment breaching in Yichun city.
About 540,000 people in seven cities in the province were affected by the disaster,
and 16,000 people were evacuated, stated Jiangxi’s emergency management
department.
In Fujian, four officials fell into a river
after a bridge collapsed and lost contact, reported CCTV (China Central
Television).
In the first week of May, 21 rivers burst their banks in Jiangxi and
Fujian, statistics from the
Ministry of Water Resources showed. Among these, two experienced their largest
floods on record.
In the second week of May, northern China experienced very hot weather. Beijing
and surrounding provinces and cities, as well as Xinjiang, all reached
temperatures above 35C. At the same time,
Jiangxi’s government announced that
after several days of temperatures hitting 33C, heavy rain is coming again in
some areas this week.
The succession of extreme weathers in Jiangxi is consistent with compound
events. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) analysed such
events for the first time in its sixth assessment report (2021).
Compound events give communities little time to recover, Zhai Panmao, one of
the report’s authors, has explained.
In a paper published
early this year, some scholars proposed the concept of intraseasonal “compound
whiplash event”, meaning an abrupt swing between warm–dry and rainy conditions.
Climate change is making such whiplash events more frequent and more intense, particularly
in East Asia, the authors found.
The National Fire and Rescue Administration pointed out this week that extreme
weather is frequent this year,
and said “it is necessary to go all out in flood control and drought relief.”
However, the worst may be yet to come. The National Climate Center predicts that this
summer the Central and Eastern Pacific will enter El Niño, meaning the
intensity and duration of extreme weather events will likely increase in China.
(Sources: China Dialogue)
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