August, 2, 2019, — According to new data from the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus Climate Change Program, July 2019 at least equaled, if not surpassed, the hottest month in recorded history. This follows the warmest ever June on record.
Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, has for the first time entered summer in 2019, according to the regional climate center. With an average elevation of 3,650 meters above sea level, Lhasa has seen its average temperature top 22 degrees Celsius on June 23 and the temperature remained above that number between June 25 and 29.
According to the national standard on the division of seasons in China, it marks that the city entered summer on June 23, the first time since the city’s meteorological data was first collected in 1981. Cold drinks and fans have become popular products, a rare scene in Lhasa.
Tibet had seen high temperatures and little rainfall since the beginning of June. The average temperature in the region in June was 13.7 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record, meteorological data showed.
On June 24, six observatories in the region registered record-high temperatures from the same period, with the temperature in Gyaca, under the jurisdiction of the city of Shannan, soaring to 32.6 degrees.
“It is possible for individual cities in Tibet to embrace summer in the context of climate change, but this is a rare case and Lhasa now still belongs to the traditional none-summer area,” said Shi Lei, deputy head of the regional climate center.