A meteorologist has said rumours connecting this year's record heatwaves to water stored by the Three Gorges dam are groundless, reports Wuhan Morning Post.

Much of southern China has been suffering from some of the highest temperatures recorded in a century in recent weeks. Rumours have been circulating that the phenomenon had something to do with the building of the giant dam on the Yangtze River.

But a rise in temperatures is normal in July and August, according to Zhou, a meteorologist with the Yangtze Hydrology Bureau, who added that the rising water levels above the Three Gorges did not have much of an effect on the lower reaches of the river.

The extreme heat around Wuhan, for instance, is the result of lingering subtropical high pressure brought about by frequent typhoons, he said

Close