Extreme weather
An expert ,at China's National Climate Center, reviews the major weather disasters that have occurred so far this year.
In North America, high temperatures and low precipitation have caused a severe drought, affecting corn and soybean crops. In Northeast Asia, heat waves have caused people to suffer and led to 50 deaths in Japan alone. Meanwhile, heat waves and droughts have also occurred in some regions in Europe.
Turning to China, the expert says the country has experienced unprecedented heavy rains and above-normal-level typhoons this summer.
There have been more torrential rains than ever. Our statistics show that unprecedented heavy rains fell at more than 40 monitoring locations across 16 provincial-level regions. In extreme cases, some places witnessed 300 millimeters of precipitation a day. Meanwhile, stronger typhoons have made landfall on a wide range of coastal regions from Guangdong to the north of Jiangsu.\"
An expert explains that the abnormal typhoon season China is seeing was because the subtropical anticyclone over the Western Pacific moved a little north than normal in August.The latest official figures show that in the first half of August the typhoons caused more than 50 deaths in China.
In general, the output of grains, especially corn and soybeans, will decline to
some extent due to droughts in the United States and Russia. But the supplies and stockpiles of grains are still adequate in the world. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has predicted a good harvest for wheat this year, so I think global food security can be ensured in general despite some structural shortfalls.
The expert adds that the world's most populous nation will continue to have an adequate food supply and stable grain prices as a good harvest here in China is in sight.
