Beijing logs hottest late-October day on record

BEIJING: China´s capital logged its hottest-ever late-October day this week, Beijing officials said on Thursday, with the mercury rising above 27 degrees Celsius across the city.

This year is on track to become the hottest in human history, with heatwaves, droughts and wildfires striking Asia, Africa, Europe and North America in recent months -- events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

An international coalition of climate scientists said this week that many climate-related records were broken by “enormous margins” in 2023. Beijing´s Nanjiao Observatory logged a high of 27.5 degrees Celsius (81.5 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, “setting a record high for air temperature in the last ten days of October”, the city government said in a post on its official social media account.

In northern Chinese regions surrounding the capital, temperatures neared or exceeded 30 degrees Celsius, with 237 observatories breaking heat records for this time of the year, the post said, adding that “this type of temperature is relatively rare for the last ten days of October”.