Feel the Heat: Spring Time Hits Beijing Half a Month Early

Lose the coats and sweaters, folks, because Beijing has already entered springtime. An engineer at the Meteorological Observatory told Beijing Daily that, meteorologically speaking, the spring period has begun a full half month earlier than usual.

The heat comes as a pleasant surprise to Beijing inhabitants who have been spending an inordinate amount of time indoors this winter due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. As the city begins to get the situation under control, residents are feeling safer as they venture outside, and average temperatures above 15 degrees Celcius are an added benefit.

The observatory uses an average of 10 degrees Celcius as a benchmark to judge whether spring has arrived. After seeing steadily rising temperatures through the first half of the month, the average temperature finally passed the benchmark on Mar 15 and has stayed above 12 degrees Celcius every day since.

The early spring follows a relatively warm February, which saw average temperatures 1.2 degrees higher than is typical.

As we previously reported, the city extended the central heating period until Mar 22 to accommodate large numbers of children who are staying at home for schooling. Despite the warmer weather heating was again extended until Mar 31, but will not be extended again into April, according to a separate report by Beijing Daily. 

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Image: Chastagner Thierry (via Unsplash)