The temperature in neighbouring Zhuhai, Guangdong province, exceeded 39 degrees Celsius on Monday afternoon – and Macao wasn’t far behind, with its Outer Harbour weather station recording a scorching 37.6 degrees.
It was the second day in a row that Macao breached 37 degrees Celsius.
An orange hot weather alert is currently in force in Macao, meaning continuously high temperatures are expected and that residents should take steps to avoid heatstroke. Today’s high has been forecast at a slightly lower 35 degrees Celsius, along with afternoon showers. Wednesday is also expected to be 35 degrees.
[See more: Extreme weather events in Macao are on the rise, says top weather official]
Parts of Eastern China, meanwhile, have been enduring an unprecedentedly hot summer with temperatures reaching historical highs of more than 42 degrees in recent days.
High temperatures were forecast to stick around this week and more records were expected to be broken, according to Zhejiang province’s weather authority. Warnings of heatstroke were in place in many cities.
The frequency of hot days in Macao could increase substantially from a current median of 27.8 days to an average of 77.7 days by the middle of this century, according to modelling data from the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau.
