Trends of Heat Waves and Cold Spells over 1951–2015 in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Abstract:The global climate has changed significantly, characterized by the warming of the surface air temperature, which seriously affects public health. We examined the trends of extreme temperatures, heat waves and cold spells in a subtropical city of Guangzhou, China, during 1951. Specifically, the relationship between ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) events and heat waves/cold spells was discussed. The results of linear regression showed the annual mean temperature and extreme warm days increased (0.14 • C/decade and 6.26 days/decade) while extreme cold days decreased significantly (1.77 days/decade). Heat waves were more frequent, longer lasting and had stronger intensity over the past 65 years. In addition, the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves were correlated with annual Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) and Indian Ocean Basin-wide Warming (IOBW), while there were no significant differences in the characteristics of heat waves among an El Niño year, a La Niña year and a Neutral year. In contrast, neither significant trend nor association with ENSO events was observed for cold spells. In conclusion, our study indicated an obvious increasing trend for all aspects of heat waves in Guangzhou, China.

New York City Panel on Climate Change 2019 Report Chapter 2: New Methods for Assessing Extreme Temperatures, Heavy Downpours, and Drought

“…Other definitions vary, including the use of standard deviations (Vavrus et al ., ). Cold spell changes have been reported on regional scales (e.g., Europe, de Vries et al ., ; China, Zhang et al ., ; Northeast United States, Thibeault and Seth, ) and for global scales (Vavrus et al ., ; Konrad, ) using GCM ensembles and long‐term climate records. In most cases, cold days have shown decreases, and notably in Northern latitudes, it has been found that accelerated decreases of cold spells outpace increases in summer maxima (Thibeault and Seth, ).…”

The climatology of cold and heat waves in Brazil from 1961 to 2016

“…Mahdi and Dhekale () and Zhang et al . () used fixed temperature thresholds to identify CWs and HWs . Other recently published studies analysed both CW and HW (Barnett et al ., ; Keevallik and Vint, ; Lhotka and Kyselý, ; Oleson et al ., ; Spinoni et al ., ; Unkašević and Tošić, ; Ceccherini et al ., ; Plavcová and Kyselý, ; Capozzi and Budillon, ; Pereira et al ., ; Song et al ., ) and used temperature threshold based on percentiles.…”

“…(), HW is defined as the time when the minimum and/or maximum temperatures are higher than the 90th percentile for at least 3 days. Recent studies have applied the same method to two extreme temperatures in order to identify and classify CWs and HWs (Barnett et al ., ; Keevallik and Vint, ; Lhotka and Kyselý, ; Oleson et al ., ; Spinoni et al ., ; Unkašević and Tošić, ; Basarin et al ., ; Ceccherini et al ., ; Mahdi and Dhekale, ; Plavcová and Kyselý, ; Capozzi and Budillon, ; Pereira et al ., ; Zhang et al ., ; Song et al ., ). In other words, the threshold temperature that characterizes a HW is in the 90th percentile, and that of a CW is in the 10th percentile.…”

Potential effects of heat waves on the population dynamics of the dengue mosquito Aedes albopictus

“…In 2014, an unprecedented outbreak of dengue fever occurred in Guangzhou, causing 37,305 cases of infections [30]. This outbreak was attributed to the combined effects of the urban heat island and climate change, including more frequent and intense heat wave events [31].…”