2006 was China's warmest year since 1951


China had its warmest year in over half a century in 2006, with an average temperature of 9.9 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). The report, which cited the China Meteorological Administration, said the temperature was the highest on record since 1951.

In a sign of how widespread the warming trend was last year, 13 out of 39 climate observation stations on the usually frigid Tibetan plateau recorded record high temperatures, Xinhua said.

Nineteen of the past 21 winters have tended to be warmer than usual, Xinhua said, and the current winter is also likely to hold to that trend if temperatures stay as warm as they have been since December.

Reuters notes that the Chinese government has been slow to wake up the challenge of addressing climate change, but there have been growing signs that Beijing is worried about how global warming could frustrate ambitions for prosperity, stability and influence, as China may become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases by 2009, overtaking the United States.

(Photo from People's Daily Online)

Comments

Pandabonium said…
The Chinese government is on to climate change as well as peak oil, but they are in a precarious political situation with huge numbers of poor people wanting the so-called good life that is happening in the cities. To stay in power they have to continue economic "growth", but that could literally be a dead end.

It reminds me of an old Feng Shui adage: "never put a rock near a hard place". ;^)
3:04 pm, February 22, 2007
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