52.2°C temperature record: China shatters all-time high

China has just recorded their highest temperature ever, at a staggering 52.2°C.

Temperatures in the village of Sanbao, in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression, soared to 52.2°C on Sunday 16th July 2023, provisionally setting a new national record for China. The extreme heat is expected to persist in the coming days.

The previous record was sat at 50.3°C from 2015 in Ayding, in the same Xinjiang Province, but sat at 154 metres below sea level, the lowest point in China.

The excessively high temperatures affect their power grids and crops, and just last year China saw their most severe drought in 60 years.

These record-breaking temperatures come after a brutally cold winter where temperatures were around 100°C lower. On 22nd January, temperatures in Mohe, in the northeastern Heilongjiang province, plummeted to -53°C.

In the space of just six months China have consequently smashed both their record low and record high temperature.