In a striking demonstration of escalating global temperatures, China and Japan have both reported record-breaking summer heat. According to China’s weather service, August 2024 was the hottest on record for the country, surpassing previous highs. This extreme heat affected a broad swath of China, including major cities and provinces such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hebei, Hainan, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, and the northwest region of Xinjiang.
The weather service highlighted that several regions experienced their hottest August since records began, with five provinces recording their second-hottest August and seven more their third-hottest. Population centers such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chongqing saw unprecedented numbers of “high temperature days,” defined as days when temperatures exceed 35°C (95°F). Despite the onset of autumn, the heat is expected to persist in some areas.
China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. The recent heatwaves align with broader climate change trends, which have led scientists to predict that 2024 will be the hottest year on record. This prediction is supported by data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which reported that July 2024 was the second warmest July since 1940, slightly cooler than July 2023.
Japan has also experienced extreme summer heat. Japanese authorities reported that 2024’s summer was the warmest since records began in 1898, with average temperatures between June and August 1.76°C above the long-term average. This record heat is part of a broader pattern of increasing temperatures, which has seen more frequent and intense extreme weather events across East Asia.
China’s summer has been marked by extreme weather conditions, including severe heatwaves and devastating floods in central and southern regions. July 2024 was reported as the hottest month in China’s history, with an average air temperature of 23.21°C (73.78°F), surpassing the previous record of 23.17°C set in 2017.
The rising temperatures in both China and Japan underscore the broader global trend of increasing heat and its impacts. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe as the planet warms, reflecting the urgent need for comprehensive climate action to mitigate these effects and address the underlying causes of global warming.
