On Thursday, June 22, Beijing, the capital city of China, issued an orange alert, the second-highest level of weather warning, as temperatures surpassed 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in nine years. The city has alerted its residents to the scorching hot weather that is expected to persist throughout the weekend. A heatwave that previously affected northern China has made a return.
A weather station on the southern outskirts of Beijing recorded 40.1C (104 Fahrenheit) at 1:25 p.m. local time (0525 GMT), according to the municipal weather bureau, marking the first breach of the 40C threshold since May 29, 2014.

Authorities in Beijing, a city of nearly 22 million people, have also said the temperatures could rise as high as 39 degrees Celcius from Thursday to Saturday.

Last week, Beijing along with Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong in northern and eastern China were struck by heatwaves. This prompted local authorities to take steps to safeguard crops, to ensure that the tourists are safe. They also suspended outdoor work during the hottest part of the day.

Heat stroke alert
The national weather bureau issued a heat stroke alert last week. This year, this alert came almost a fortnight earlier than in previous years. Cities across northern China have battled new record temperatures.

Increased electricity demand for air-conditioners pushed power grid load to 14.54 million kilowatts on June 15 in the port city of Tianjin. This is 23 per cent up from a year earlier. The increased load made the local authorities dispatch workers to patrol underground tunnels every day to ensure that electrical cables are working fine.

The latest round of heatwaves has coincided with the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend in China. The heatwave is also expected to hit the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in the far west, said China Meteorological Administration.