Tourists flock to China’s ‘Flaming Mountains’ as heatwave hits record 28th day

Beijing marks its 28th day of temperatures of more than 35C in a grim new record amid the climate crisis

File photo from 2013 shows a massive thermometer installed at the Flaming Mountains of Turpan in northwest China’s Xinjiang region displaying a surface temperature of 78C (AFP via Getty Images)

Several tourists gathered at China’s scenic “Flaming Mountains” tourist spot to experience spiking temperatures amid continuing heatwaves lashing Asia and much of the northern hemisphere.

Situated in Xinjiang, the Flaming Mountains are a popular tourist attraction that draw thousands to the northern rim of the Turpan Depression each summer, as people come to gaze at corrugated slopes of brown-red sandstone.

The ground at the spot emanates heat not experienced before by many.

Visuals telecast by Chinese state television on Wednesday showed people braving scorching weather by wearing broad-brimmed hats and using umbrellas for extra protection.

The tourists were seen taking selfies next to a 12-metre-tall thermometer installed there that displays real-time land surface temperatures, which is different from the air temperatures recorded for weather. The temperature seen in the visuals was of 80C (176F).

This comes as Beijing on Wednesday marked its 28th day of air temperatures that went beyond 35C, a new record for the greatest number of high-temperature days in a year.

The Turpan depression, where the Flaming Mountains are located, recently shattered all-time records after getting the country’s highest temperatures ever recorded.

The remote township of Sanbao in Turpan faced a maximum temperature of 52.2C on Sunday, breaking China’s national record of 50.3C that was also set in the basin in 2015.

As a result, the oasis city Turpan West recorded temperatures of more than 45C at 31 local weather stations, with five of them breaking above 50C, reported state media on Wednesday.

The extreme weather patterns have sent temperatures in Xinjiang and other parts of Asia, as well as Europe and the US soaring, adding new urgency for nations around the globe to tackle the climate crisis that scientists said will make heat waves more frequent, severe and lethal.

Officials have asked farmers in Xinjiang – one of the world’s biggest producers of cotton – to amp up its watering and irrigation scale to prevent their crops from withering away in the scorching sun.

Meanwhile, China and the US – the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters that have witnessed strained bilateral relations – have been holding intense marathon talks in Beijing this week on fighting climate change.

US climate envoy John Kerry said that climate change was a global issue and “a threat to all of humankind”.