As Asia Continues to Bake in Record Temperatures, Severe Flooding is Likely to Add Insult to Misery

Street scene from Hangzhou, China, May 29, 2013. (Photo: © Tom Yulsman) I shot the photo above in Hangzhou, China in May — during much better times there. Today, the beautiful city southwest of Shanghai is in unimaginable misery, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, day after day, and little cooling at night. For twelve days since July 24th, the city has broken or tied its previous record high temperature of 104.5 degrees F (40.3 C), which was set on Aug. 1, 2003. And Hangzhou is by no means alone. A good portion of Asia has been experiencing unprecedented heat, according to Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian for Wunderground.com, who concludes that thousands of people may be perishing as the nation continues to bake: