New Weather Extremes Become The Norm Across Northern China As Shanxi Flooding Demonstrated
The unusual rains began to fall in Shanxi on 3 October, and the torrential downpours lasted for three days. According to Chinese media, the 59 observatories across Shanxi province all recorded historic levels of rain. According to the local weather bureau, the average rain in the province reached 120mm (4.7 in) between 2 and 7 October. The average rainfall across the US over a whole month is 71mm.
But when the rain finally stopped more news began to emerge about the damage it had caused. A week later, the Communist party newspaper Shanxi Evening News reported that an estimated 190,000 hectares (470,000 acres) of crops had been inundated and destroyed.
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It is not the first time China has had such a dramatic scene this year. In July, the heavy rainfall and the deadly floods in the central province of Henan – one of the country’s largest agricultural provinces – killed more than 300 people, with a few dozen still missing. Chinese meteorologists link such unpredictable weather patterns to the climate crisis, which exacerbates the frequency and severity of climatic extremes and variations.
“This year, in particular, extreme weather in the north of China’s Yangtze River has been common,” said Prof Faith Chan of the University of Nottingham in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo. “In Shanxi, monthly rainfall is normally about 31mm in October, but this year [it is] at least three times more than usual, reaching 119.5mm, to be precise. It’s alarming. “Although we still need more scientific research into this phenomenon, so far it all indicates a trend that extreme weather and intense rainfall will be a norm in northern China. China has to act fast.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/09/intense-rainfall-extreme-weather-northern-china
