China Set for Sudden Change from Warm to Freezing in Year of Extreme Weather

Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang
Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang
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China Set for Sudden Change from Warm to Freezing in Year of Extreme Weather

Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang
Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang

Temperatures in northern China are set to plunge as much as 20 degrees Celsius after the second-warmest October in decades, but warmer-than-usual conditions could soon be back under the influence of El Nino.
A stream of cold air entering China on Saturday from the northwest will join one that arrived on Thursday to push temperatures sharply lower, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said.
In the sparsely populated deserts and grasslands of the northern Inner Mongolia region, temperatures could plummet on Friday and again from Saturday while blizzards could hit the Xinjiang region in the northwest, Reuters.
From next week, most of the northeast is expected to see maximum temperatures dive to the single-digits or below freezing as cold air moves east and south, in an abrupt reversal of a recent "big warming", the CMA said.
While freezing temperatures are not uncommon for the time of year, the sudden change is unusual.
A few days ago, uncharacteristically warm weather saw parts of northern China post record high temperatures exceeding 30C.
Weather has become more extreme in China in recent years, destroying urban infrastructure as well as farmland, causing hefty economic losses and raising fears about the pace and impact of global warming.
This summer, typhoons dumped historic rainfall in inland regions unaccustomed to tropical storms. Typhoon Doksuri caused the worst flooding since 1963 in the Hai river basin that encompasses Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.
Authorities are due to issue 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) of sovereign bonds to help rebuild areas hit by the floods and improve infrastructure to cope with disasters.
Earlier in the year, northern China basked in unseasonal heat, with temperatures reaching summer-levels, shortly after a very cold January, when the northernmost city of Mohe saw the temperature dip to a record minus 53C.
Winter this year, however, could be warmer due to a moderate El Nino, Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of China's National Climate Centre, told a press conference on Friday.
El Nino is a natural climate pattern associated with warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific. The phenomenon occurs every two to seven years, lasting nine to 12 months.
"The sea surface temperature in the east-central equatorial Pacific will continue to exceed 0.5C in November, and the El Nino event will persist in the 2023/2024 winter, with a peak intensity of 1.5-2C," Jia said.
But statistics showed that winter temperatures could fluctuate greatly during El Nino, Jia warned.



Aloha, Bavaria! Munich Surfers Riding Wild River Wave Again

Aloha, Bavaria! Munich Surfers Riding Wild River Wave Again
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Aloha, Bavaria! Munich Surfers Riding Wild River Wave Again

Aloha, Bavaria! Munich Surfers Riding Wild River Wave Again

Surfing enthusiasts have cheered the reopening of a beloved whitewater site in downtown Munich, the German city better known for partying at Oktoberfest than splashing in the waves.

The Eisbach ("ice brook") standing wave in the city's Englischer Garten park was closed after tragedy struck in April when a 33-year-old woman drowned during a nighttime winter surf.

After a safety review and a petition to keep it open, the site -- just a stone's throw from an art museum and shopping streets -- was reopened by authorities in recent weeks.

Putting on a wetsuit and taking a board out of its bag after a day's work, Moritz, 43, said he's a regular at the surf spot on an arm of the Isar river.

"It's amazing. A wave right in the city center is something very special," he said. "I missed it during the closure."

Nearby, surfers performed tricks with virtuosity on the powerful wave, formed by the presence of rocks on the riverbed near a bridge.

"It's completely different from the ocean," said Moritz.

"Even if you know how to surf very well in the sea, you don't necessarily know how to do it here where the water comes from the front and not from behind."

Another surfer, Irina, 34, said she tries to come three times a week, "before work, because it gives you energy".

She finds "the power of the wave is good" and said she feels safe at this unique spot, even if "there are rocks at the bottom and you have to be a little careful when you fall".

A German surfer lost her life during a night session in April after being trapped underwater for nearly 30 minutes, her leash caught on an unidentified object.

Friends and emergency services rushed to help her, but she died a week after her accident.

An investigation found no safety breaches on the part of the city or state, which had always warned surfers to attempt the challenge "at their own risk".

New guidelines have, however, been issued: night surfing is banned between 10:00 pm and 5:30 am, and the minimum age for braving the wave is 14.

Surfers must also use a system that allows their leash to be detached in case of emergency.

These rules are "largely reasonable", said Franz Fasel, head of the local surfers' association IGSM, who said between 3,000 and 5,000 local surfers use the Eisbach site.

"Surfing is simply part of the lifestyle in Munich," he said. "Not just for the surfers themselves, but also for the city's image."

It was not always this way. In the past, the Eisbach wave was entirely natural and surfable only occasionally, for example, when gravel accumulated in the riverbed.

Surfers took matters into their own hands in the 1980s, installing a river crossing and adding objects to improve the wave, not all well received by the authorities.

The site is now promoted by the tourist office as one of Munich's top attractions.

Bavaria's state premier Markus Soeder proudly declared during a recent visit that "Munich is a surfer's paradise" and Bavaria "a bit like the California of Germany".