Highly sensitive to climate change, China is facing significant shifts in its climate system
Yuan Jashuang, Deputy Director of the National Climate Center
As a region highly sensitive to and significantly affected by climate change, China is facing significant shifts in its climate system in diverse aspects.
With global warming, higher emissions are expected to drive more frequent, severe, and dangerous extreme heat events. Over the next 30 years, China’s average maximum extreme temperature is projected to rise by 1.7 to 2.8°C, with the biggest increases occurring in the eastern regions and western Xinjiang. Additionally, the average number of regional heat wave days is likely to rise by 7 to 15 days. Under high-emission scenarios, these extreme heat events could become a regular occurrence, happening once every 1 to 2 years, compared to the current rate of once every 50 years.
In the future, the rate of extreme precipitation events in China is also expected to increase more than that of total precipitation, with greater variability and intensity, with greater variability and intensity. Over the next 30 years, five-day maximum precipitation is expected to generally increase nationwide, with more than a 10% rise in the eastern parts of Northwest China and the Huang-Huai River Basin.
