Hebei announced the top ten weather events and meteorological disasters in 2008, resulting in 31 deaths and 59 injuries.

　　BEIJING, Shijiazhuang, January 4 (Qiao Xiangjun, Guo Yingchun) The Meteorological Bureau of Hebei Province today released the top ten weather and climate events in the province in 2008. This year, the province mainly suffered from meteorological disasters such as drought, dusty weather, low-temperature freezing injury, hail and strong wind, high temperature, lightning, heavy rain, fog and cold wave. The direct economic loss caused by meteorological disasters in the whole year was 5.39 billion yuan, and 31 people were killed and 59 were injured.

　　According to reports, the basic climate characteristics of Hebei Province in 2008 are: the temperature is slightly higher than normal, and the precipitation is slightly higher than normal; The frequency and loss degree of meteorological disasters are lower than the average level since 1990s, and also lower than the loss degree in 2007, which is a "light" year. The average precipitation in the province is 571 mm, which is slightly higher than normal (54 mm more than normal, accounting for 10%); The distribution of precipitation is uneven, and relatively rainy areas mainly appear in the central and eastern parts of the province; The average temperature in the province is 12.4℃, which is 0.4℃ higher than normal.

　　According to the announcement issued by the Meteorological Bureau of Hebei Province, in 2008, the province suffered mainly from meteorological disasters such as drought, dusty weather, low temperature freezing injury, hail and strong wind, high temperature, lightning, heavy rain, fog and cold wave. According to the statistics of the provincial civil affairs department, meteorological disasters caused direct economic losses of 5.39 billion yuan in the whole year, including agricultural economic losses of 4.93 billion yuan, and caused 31 deaths and 59 injuries (including only 18 deaths and 3 injuries caused by lightning disasters).

　　The main weather and climate events in Hebei province in 2008 are as follows: the temperature in January continued to be low and there was more snowfall; The drought was severe in early spring. From early February to mid-March, the accumulated precipitation in the province was less than 2 mm, which was less than 80% compared with the same period of normal years. The largest drought-affected area in the province reached 3.335 million hectares, and 638,000 people had temporary drinking water difficulties due to drought. In mid-March, the strongest dusty weather of the year appeared; High temperature and hot weather appeared in the central and southern parts of early summer; In late June, strong convective weather occurred continuously. From June 23 to July 1, there were large-scale thunderstorms in the province for 9 consecutive days. The rainfall in 27 counties and cities in the province was 100-181 mm; The strongest rainfall of the year occurred in mid-July; Heavy rainfall occurred in the central and southern regions in mid-August; The temperature in autumn is on the high side. According to statistics from October 13th to 16th, during this period, the average maximum temperature in more than 120 counties and cities in the province reached the highest level in the same period in history for more than 50 years. Drought in autumn and winter, warm in early winter; At the end of the year, the cold air force was strong, and the largest strong cold wave weather process occurred in the same period of history since the meteorological record was recorded in this province. (End)

Editor: Shi Guanghui