Lin Erda, a member of the national expert committee on climate change and a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said:

“The chances of high temperature and precipitation are continuously increasing in China, [but] it is hard for climate experts to predict how or in what degree.”

He said he believed artificial precipitation would be effective in some areas, but noted that it worked only under certain conditions.

“In the long run, we can only prepare to deal with climate change, and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to slow down global warm.”

Li Weijing, another climate expert, told the state news agency, Xinhua, that extreme weather events were becoming more frequent and that climate change would cause China’s rain belt to move north in the summer.

Jiang Tong, a research fellow with the China Meteorological Administration’s national climate centre, told the Global Times that many cities were not prepared for such severe weather at present. He said development plans should include details of how to manage such conditions.