Guangdong province officially started autumn on 2 December after it finally managed to satisfy China’s national standard for the classification of climatic seasons, according to multiple media outlets.
Under the meteorological criteria, autumn does not begin until the province has registered an average temperature of less than 22°C, but more than or equal to 10°C, for five consecutive days.
The onset of autumn in Guangdong comes after the provincial capital Guangzhou entered the season on 18 November after experiencing an unprecedented 240 days of summer – smashing the earlier record of 234 days from 1994.
Other major cities across the province similarly experienced a prolonged stretch of brutally hot weather, including Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou and Zhanjiang, which did not announce the official arrival of autumn until 19 November.
[See more: It may be November, but Guangzhou is officially still stuck in summer]
Macao has likewise been hit with sweltering weather this year, with the local meteorological bureau issuing multiple yellow and orange hot weather alerts, and the city enduring record-breaking heat during the Mid-Autumn Festival in September.
Although the weather has cooled down over the past several weeks, the authorities issued a report earlier this year that forecasts the doubling of hot days in the SAR by the middle of this century due to the impact of climate change.
Globally, the World Meteorological Organisation has announced that 2024 is set to be Earth’s hottest year since the start of records.
