Beijingers sweltered Thursday as city's temperature soared to 35.9 degrees Celsius, the hottest day this year.

High temperatures have settled over the Chinese capital since July 5. Although Beijing welcomed some drizzle on Wednesday evening, it did not bring any relief.

Local meteorological sources said Beijing enjoyed good visibility Thursday, but strong sunshine Thursday contributed to the high temperature, Friday's Beijing Daily reported.

In some areas, ground temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius.

According to reports by 14 meteorological stations in Beijing proper, the temperatures in seven regions climbed to 36 degrees Celsius and in the Qingnianhu (Youth Lake) area, the temperature was 37.3 degrees Celsius.

Consecutive days of high temperature and humidity led to increasing consumption of electricity in the city, with the peak load hitting a record 7.82 million kw at 8:45 p.m. Thursday, an increase of 10.9 percent from last year's 7.05 million kw.

According to analysis, electricity consumed by air conditioners and electric fans now stands at 3 million kw, or 38 percent of the Beijing power grid total load.

Authoritative sources said if the hot weather continued, measures would have to be taken to restrict the use of electricity before it cause an equipment failure.

Huabei (north China) Power Corporation and Beijing Power Supply Bureau have made full preparations and are ready to guarantee the safe operation of the power grid and major equipment. They have also made great efforts to guarantee the power supply for residential and commercial purposes.

Sources said that more than 3,000 Beijing Power Supply Bureau workers were working around the clock to guarantee normal power supplies.

Frequent rains and wet weather in late June and early July once worried Beijing's businessmen as sales slumped and some air conditioner companies cut production.

However, hot weather in recent days has been a boon to these business people.

A manager with Guomei, an electric appliances franchise, said Beijing's Guomei shops had sold 1,600 air conditioners in the past two days, three times the number of air conditioners sold last week.

The Beijing Municipal Department Store, located on the Wangfujing business street in the downtown area, sold 80 air conditioners on Thursday, compared with only a dozen a day last week.

Sources from other shopping centers and department stores also reported similar sales.

While business people are "happy" with the hot weather, some local residents are not, especially those who suffered sunstroke Thursday because of the burning sun.

The number of patients catching illnesses from air conditioners has also risen. Doctor Wu from the Chaoyang Hospital said the hospital treated 55 such patients on July 10.

Local meteorological sources predicted that Beijing would have sunny days during the weekend, with the highest temperature lingering around 34 degrees Celsius. But high humidity could make people feel breathless.

( eastday.com July 12, 2002)