China heat wave: Beware of 'spontaneously' combusting trees and billboards
Peter Ford
5 hours ago
Now I remember why I normally take my summer vacation long before mid-August.
For the past few weeks Beijing has been either a furnace or a sauna, depending on the rain, as China endures its hottest summer in more than half a century.
The press is full of the most alarming stories as the country sweats through its second major heat wave this year. In the southern city of Wuhan, witnesses last weekend reported seeing a willow tree spontaneously burst into flames, “which rarely happens under normal circumstances,” according to a local forestry expert.
In the eastern province of Zhejiang the same thing happened to a billboard, which presumably is equally unusual.
I myself have sometimes felt I was about to go up in flames recently, and I am not alone. The Chinese National Meteorological Center announced on Monday that temperatures had exceeded 95 degrees Fahrenheit in eight provinces on more than 25 of the previous 41 days.
It hasn’t been that hot here since 1961. For the first time ever the government has declared the heat to be a level two weather emergency – a warning normally reserved for typhoons and floods – amid reports that more than 40 people have died from the high temperatures.
There is not much to be done about it, of course, except stay indoors as much as possible if you have air conditioning, which most city-dwellers do nowadays. Those that don’t have been flocking to malls – not for the shopping but for their cool air.
Farmers, of course, are taking a different view of the record-breaking heat, especially in southern provinces where drought is taking its toll. They have suffered losses of $760 million, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as their crops have shriveled.
In the meantime I have been staying as close to home as possible, cycling in slow motion so as not to melt into a pool of sweat, and checking the temperature in Scotland, where I shall be going on vacation this weekend.
At the moment it is a refreshing 61 degrees. This year, that sounds like ideal holiday weather
RECOMMENDED:
How much do you know about China? Take our quiz.
end quote from:
http://news.yahoo.com/china-heat-wave-beware-spontaneously-combusting-trees-billboards-122905534.html
Yes. I have a friend who recently traveled to Kyoto, Japan. He told me that it was all he could do not to go down under heat prostration. In fact, the last few days of his stay there in Japan he had to recuperate in the air conditioning of his hotel room. So, this incredible heat wave is not just in China but also in Japan and surrounding areas as well. Likely many people are dying of the heat in China. However, you likely won't hear about it because that kind of thing usually isn't reported to western nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment