Make sure to prepare your family for a thermometer-bursting week (May 17- 20) as temperatures are set to rise across northern China, including Beijing, to record-breaking levels starting Wednesday and sticking around till the weekend. Beijing has never recorded temperatures this high, this early in the summer, so make your end of the week plans with this in mind.
The most intense heat with temperatures reaching or surpassing 38 C (100 F) will be present today and Friday. These temperatures aren’t far off from Beijing’s heat record of 41.9 C (107.4 F), which was set in July of 1999. That sounds like fry your egg on sidewalk hot, though we don’t recommend you making breakfast on these squelching hot pedestrian surfaces. Also, be prepared for the not so elusive emergence of the Beijing bikini.
Chances are this is only the beginning for unreasonably high summer temperatures as we also had another record-breaking day when the temperature peaked at 33.1 C (92 F) in Beijing on April 29, the hottest April day on record. So get your summer pool memberships sorted, as that will likely be a necessary activity come June and July. On a side note, Beijing’s lengthy list of public pools don’t normally start operating until the beginning of June, but there are other options you can find around town with a quick google search. We love the pool facilities at Phoenix City Apartments Sanyuanqiao, and seasonal passes here aren’t too pricey at RMB 500.
Now onto an even more pressing matter- this weekend’s 2017 Burger Cup at Galaxy Soho, happening on both Saturday and Sunday, from 10am-8pm. They are working tirelessly to prepare enough shade and sun-combating elements to make sure that burger consumption remains the focus of the weekend and not the oppressive heat. Anyway, things should let up by Sunday, which is in our opinion the more relaxed and family friendly day of the two-day event.
photos: http://img.gmw.cn/, http://www.accuweather.com/, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/
