Experts Attribute China's Abnormal Weather to "La Nina"

Meteorological experts attributed the abnormal weather plaguing China during the first half of this year to the La Nina phenomenon.

The climatic anomalies, including 15 sand storms, droughts in north China and rainstorms and floods in south China, have caused economic losses and casualties in some regions, said Wen Kegang, director of the China Meteorological Bureau.

"La Nina" is the name given to a weather phenomenon where unusually cool water from the Pacific Ocean affects weather conditions nearly the world over, explained experts from the National Climatic Center.

This spring the average high temperature across China reached its second-highest since 1961. From February to April, the average precipitation in north China was only 23 mm, the lowest in 50 years.

Nationwide, about 20 million hectares of land suffered from drought, and over 20 million people were short of drinking water during the three months, according to Wen.

At the same time, heavy rain storms hit some regions in the south of the Yangtze River and caused flooding in some places, affecting more than 85,000 hectares of farmland and millions of people.

However, Lu Jun, a senior engineer with the climatic center, believed that the hot weather in north China was the result of global warming, and the rainfall in south China was still within the normal range.

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