In the last four years, China has logged its four warmest years since comparable temperature recordings began in 1961.
China experienced its warmest year on record in 2024, a new high since comparable temperature recordings began more than 60 years ago, the country’s meteorological service has said.
The average national temperature for 2024 was 10.92 degrees Celsius (51.66 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.03 degrees higher than 2023 and “the warmest year since the start of full records in 1961”, the China Meteorological Administration said on its news site on Wednesday night.
“The top four warmest years ever were the past four years, with all top ten warmest years since 1961 occurring in the 21st century,” the administration said.
Densely populated Shanghai, China’s financial hub, recorded its warmest year in 2024 since meteorological records for the city began in 1873, data from the Shanghai meteorological bureau showed. The city’s average temperature stood at 18.8C (65.8F).
China had already logged its hottest month in the history of observations in July last year, as well as the hottest August and the warmest autumn recorded.
Residents in the southern city of Guangzhou also experienced a record-breaking long summer, with state media reporting there were 240 days where the average temperature was above 22C (71.6F), breaking the record of 234 days set in 1994.
The warmer weather in China has been accompanied by stronger storms and higher rainfall, and dozens of people were killed last year and thousands forced to evacuate from their homes during floods around the country.
In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, killing 48 people, while Sichuan, Chongqing, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River suffered from heat and drought in early autumn.
Greenpeace warned last year of China’s “alarming new trends in extreme heat” and said that days with extreme heat were arriving earlier each year and the size of areas affected in China by such heat was growing.
“As a multitude of climate impacts hit China, people’s lives and livelihoods are impacted,” the campaign group said.
The United Nations said in a year-end message on Monday that 2024 was set to be the warmest year ever recorded worldwide.
Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas. Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.
Zurich-based insurance giant Swiss Re said climate-related natural disasters caused an estimated $310bn in economic losses in 2024.