The year 2006 was China's hottest in half a century, with more than a third of climate observation stations on the Tibet plateau registering all-time high temperatures, state media reported Tuesday. China's average temperature was 9.9 degrees Celsius (49.8 Fahrenheit) last year, making it the hottest since 1951, Xinhua news agency said, quoting data supplied by the China Meteorological Bureau. The report offered few other details.
But the bureau's top official, Qin Dahe, said earlier this month that a rash of extreme weather phenomena in 2006, such as droughts and severe typhoons, was likely due to higher temperatures caused by greenhouse gas-induced global warming.
Thirteen out of 39 state climate observation stations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, viewed as a barometer of the health of the world's climate, recorded record highs, Xinhua quoted bureau experts as saying.
On Monday, the agency quoted bureau meteorologists as forecasting average temperatures could rise in China by a startling 3.9 to 6.0 degrees by 2100, higher than global estimates by the UN.
They also predicted more extreme weather for China, including severe rainfall in heavily populated eastern China, drought in other areas and a rapid retreat of glaciers in Tibet and other areas of China.
China is expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest producer of climate-changing gases by 2010.
But Qin said earlier this month that China lacks the money and technology to shift significantly from its current reliance on heavily polluting coal-fired power stations.
Source: Agence France-Presse
