Apart from Beijing, some areas in nearby Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Tianjin raised or maintained their heat alert to “red”, the highest in China’s four-tier alert system.
A red alert means that the temperature could exceed 40ºC in 24 hours.
As of 1:13 p.m. local time, an area of 450,000 square kilometers had registered temperatures above 37°C, according to local media.
“Last year’s heat wave provides insight into the risks to China’s food supply and the potential impact on prices,” Capital Economics wrote in a note on Friday.
“Another drought would hurt crop yields, while livestock are vulnerable to high temperatures.”
The heat wave, the second in about 10 days, was caused by hot air masses associated with high pressure ridges in the atmosphere. The effect was amplified by low cloud cover and long daylight hours around the summer solstice, according to Chinese meteorologists.
In Beijing, between 1990 and 2020, the average number of days with temperatures of 35ºC or more was 10.6, the official Beijing Daily reported, citing official data.
June is not over yet and has already exceeded that figure, according to the newspaper, after temperatures in Beijing topped 35°C on Saturday for the 11th day this year.
On Friday, temperatures reached 40.3C, after Thursday’s 41.1C, the second hottest day on record in the Chinese capital in the modern era.
The all-time high in Beijing, 41.9ºC, was recorded on July 24, 1999.
Heat waves in north China are expected to abate on Monday before strengthening again later in the week.