It’s 2007. On a typical day at this time of year, the morning is hot and very humid. As the day progresses, the clouds rear up in giant towers and huge thunderstorms dump a deluge on Nanjing, at times creating small lakes at major intersections. It passes, and the water drains away. Those thunderstorms would give us some respite from our local sauna. Ten years later, and for the second year running, the humidity is lower, and we are experiencing longer periods of very hot days. Thunderstorms are few and small. It is a new Nanjing, and maybe this climate has come to stay.
In case you’re interested, the hottest July day in 2007 was 38.5C, and most days were mid to low 30s. We gained the reputation as a “cauldron of China” from the humidity which used to sometimes top 90%. That could make it feel like it was 45C.
