China says 267 weather stations broke temperature record in August

As many as 267 weather stations across China recorded their highest temperatures in history last month after a heat-wave of more than 70 days damaged crops and wreaked havoc on power supplies, the national meteorological bureau said.

This year's heat-wave began on June 13 and didn't officially end until Aug. 30, driven by an unusually large and intense Western Pacific Subtropical High weather system stretching over large parts of Asia. Water levels in some rivers and lakes dwindled to their lowest ever, drying out farmland ahead of the crucial autumn harvest.

The duration, intensity, extent and impact of the heat-wave made it the biggest since records began in 1961, said Xiao Chan, vice director of China's National Meteorological Center, at a regular briefing on Tuesday.

The average national temperature stood at 22.4 Celsius (72.32 Fahrenheit) over the whole month, 1.2 C higher than the seasonal norm, while average rainfall fell 23.1% to 82.4 millimetres, the third lowest since records began, he said.

China's southwest was the worst hit, with temperatures reaching highs of 45C in parts of the region of Chongqing. Neighbouring Sichuan province also saw big declines in hydroelectric generation, forcing power rationing throughout the region.

Zhao Zhiqiang, an official with China's weather modification bureau, told the briefing that 75 cloud seeding operations were conducted in August, covering 1.45 million square kilometres of territory.

Despite heavy rainfall in Sichuan and Chongqing from the start of September, parts of the central Yangtze basin still remain stricken by drought, including the provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi and Hunan, Xiao said.