SHANGHAI: Shanghai recorded its hottest May day in more than 100 years on Monday, the city’s meteorological service announced, shattering the previous high by a full degree.

Scientists say global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with many countries experiencing deadly heatwaves and temperatures hitting records across Southeast and South Asia in recent weeks.

“At 13:09, the temperature at Xujiahui station hit 36.1 degrees Celsius, breaking a 100-year-old record for the highest temperature in May,” a post on the service’s official Weibo account read, referring to a metro station in the centre of China’s largest city.

The temperature at the bustling station climbed even higher to 36.7C later in the afternoon, the meteorological service said.

That put it a full degree above the old record, 35.7C, which has been recorded four times previously, in 1876, 1903, 1915 and 2018, according to the service.

Shanghai residents sweltered under the early-afternoon sun, with some apps showing a “feels like” temperature estimate of more than 40C. “I almost got heatstroke, it’s really hot enough to explode,” read one post on Weibo.

Aman who gave his surname as Wu sai: “It’s an environmental problem, the world is going to get hotter and hotter.”

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2023