Shanghai recorded its hottest May day in 100 years on Monday, the city’s meteorological service said, surpassing the previous high by a full degree.
Scientists say global warming is exacerbating severe weather, with many countries experiencing deadly heat waves in recent weeks and record temperatures in Southeast and South Asia.
“At 1:09 p.m., the temperature at Xujiahui Station reached 36.1 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking a 100-year-old record for the highest temperature in May,” said a post on the official Weibo account, referring to subway stations in the center of China’s largest city .
The temperature at the busy station climbed even higher to 36.7°C (98°F) later in the afternoon, the Shanghai Meteorological Service said.
That put it a full degree above the old record, 35.7C, which had been set four times before, in 1876, 1903, 1915 and 2018, according to the weather service.
Shanghai residents basked in the early afternoon sun, with some apps showing a “feel-good” estimated temperature of more than 40 °C (104 °F).
“I went out to pick up a package at noon and when I came back I had a headache,” read one post from Shanghai on Weibo.
Another said: “I almost got heatstroke, it’s really hot enough to explode.”
Parts of India recorded temperatures above 44 °C (111 °F) in mid-April, with at least 11 people dying of heatstroke in a single day near Mumbai.
Bangladesh, Dhaka experienced its hottest day in nearly 60 years
The city of Tak in Thailand recorded an all-time high of 45.4°C (114°F), while Sainyabuli Province in Laos reached 42.9°C (109°F), an all-time national temperature record, a study by the World Weather Attribution group said .
A recent report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that “any increase in global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards.”
The United Nations warned in May that 2023-2027 is almost certain to be the warmest five-year period on record as greenhouse gases and El Nino combine to drive temperatures soaring.
There is a two-thirds chance that at least one of the next five years will see global temperatures exceed the more ambitious target set by the Paris Agreement to curb climate change, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to limit global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius above the average level measured between 1850 and 1900 – and if possible to 1.5C.
The global average temperature in 2022 was 1.15 C above the 1850-1900 average.
The WMO said there is a 66 percent chance that annual global surface temperatures will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the years 2023-2027.
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