Last year warmer and drier, says report

China was, on average, relatively warm and dry last year, the China Meteorological Administration said in a report released on Wednesday.

The 2023 China Climate Bulletin said the country's average temperature last year was 10.71 C, 0.82 C higher than normal and the highest since 1951.

The average number of high-temperature days nationwide exceeded the usual count by 4.4 days, and was the second highest since 1961. The occurrence of extreme high-temperature events was the fourth-highest in history, with 127 national weather stations witnessing record-high temperatures, it said.

Across the nation, precipitation averaged 615 millimeters last year, 3.9 percent less than usual and the second-lowest level since 2012.

The report said the overall climate was bad last year, with prominent floods and droughts.