Beicology: Has Beijing Been Experiencing More Rain than Usual?

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Over the past few weeks the capital has experienced numerous thunderstorms along with just generally quite humid and rainy weather. Since Jun 26 there has especially been more rain, with it raining almost every day. This certainly feels higher than average, but is this actually true or is this amount of rain normal for this time of year?

Well, the rainy season in Beijing does run from around early June to mid-September, with the highest amount of rainfall occurring in July on average. However, according to the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, in the period from Jun 1 to Jul 1, the average rainfall in Beijing was 111.5 mm, which is 30 percent more than usual for the same period, so yes this year has already seen more rain.

However, according to Wang Weiyue, a meteorological analyst at the China Weather Network, this increase in rainfall is not only limited to Beijing. North China as a whole saw significant increases in rainfall during late June, especially in the middle and southern parts of North China, which saw twice as much rainfall and some areas of south eastern China even saw up for four times as much.

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In fact, according to Wang Yawei, deputy director of the Emergency Disaster Mitigation and Public Service Department of the China Meteorological Administration, the national average precipitation in June was 112.1 mm. This is a whole 9.1 percent higher than the same period of the previous year, so it looks weather in China in general is getting wetter and rainier. 

But it isn’t only the amount of rain that’s been abnormal here in Beijing, according to the National Climate Center, the rainy season in North China has also started earlier than usual.

Frequent rains have usually started in late June, which was earlier than usual, however this doesn’t yet mark the beginning of the rainy season. But the National Climate Center have predicted that the rainy season will officially begin in North China at the beginning of July, which is significantly earlier than the normal start date Jul 18. 

This seems to be a trend which follows on from last year when the North China rainy season began on Jul 12, six days earlier than normal. Last year also saw the rainy season ending later than usual, finishing on Sep 9, 22 days later than average the latest time for the rainy season to finish in history. With predictions of the early start this year it’s looking like we could possibly be in for an unusually late end to the North China rainy season as well. 

For now it seems that here in Beijing we may be in for another wet summer, so be sure to keep a brolly on you just in case!

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Images: Unsplash Jessica Knowlden, Xiaoyi Huang

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