Shanghai Sets Record For Hottest Day In May In The Last 100 Years

Illustration of Shanghai, China. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - China's Shanghai city recorded the hottest day in May in 100 years on Monday, breaking an earlier record high according to city meteorological services.

Scientists say global warming is exacerbating bad weather, with many countries experiencing deadly heat waves, while temperatures have hit records in Southeast and South Asia in recent weeks.

"At 13:09, the temperature at Xujiahui Station reached 36.1 degrees Celsius, breaking a record 100 years for the highest temperature in May," wrote the service's official Weibo account, referring to the metro station in the middle of China's largest city., reported CNA May 29.

The temperature at the bustling station rose even higher to 36.7 degrees Celsius in the afternoon, the Shanghai meteorological service continued.

It puts it one degree above the old record, 35.7 degrees Celsius, which has been recorded four times before - in 1876, 1903, 1915, and 2018, according to weather services.

Shanghai residents overheated in the afternoon sun, with some apps showing an estimated "flood-like" temperature of more than 40 degrees Celsius.

"I came out during the day to pick up a shipment, and had a headache after returning," wrote one of the uploads from Shanghai on Weibo.

Another said: "I was almost hit by a hot sting, hot enough to burn."

Previously, parts of India experienced temperatures above 44 degrees Celsius in mid-April, with at least 11 deaths near Mumbai attributed to heat strikes in one day.

In Bangladesh, Dhaka has had the hottest day of nearly 60 years. While the City of Tak in Thailand recorded the highest temperature ever 45.4 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Sainyabuli Province in Laos reached 42.9 degrees Celsius, a record national temperature of all time, said a study by the World Weather Attribution group.

A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations warned, "any increase in global warming will intensify the multiplier and co-existent danger".

In May, the United Nations warned that 2023 to 2027 would almost certainly be the warmest five-year period ever recorded, as greenhouse gases and El Nino joined forces to make temperatures soar.

It is known, the global average temperature in 2022 is 1.15 degrees Celsius above the 1850 to 1900 average.