Chongqing opens its 44 underground cooling shelters for summer season
On Sunday, Chongqing opened 44 underground civil defense shelters as public cooling centers across its 11 districts, offering residents a free and unique escape from the sweltering summer heat. Known as one of China's "four furnaces", the southwestern municipality frequently experiences temperatures above 40 C.
According to the Chongqing National Defense Mobilization Office, the cooling centers cover a total area of more than 11,000 square meters and operate daily from 10 am to 9 pm. Each site is equipped with desks, chairs, drinking water, and heatstroke prevention medicine. Staff are on duty to oversee safety and assist visitors.
Originally built into the city's hillsides as air raid shelters during World War II, the office began repurposing these facilities into cooling spaces in 2002. The public welfare project has received 26.3 million visits so far, according to official statistics.
On Monday, the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau issued its first orange alert for high temperatures this summer, forecasting temperatures to exceed 37 C in its 21 districts and counties between 1 pm and 6 pm. The bureau also announced that from July 7 to August 31, the city would endure a prolonged period of hot and dry weather, with average temperatures anticipated to be 1 C above the historical norm.
Earlier, the bureau warned that rapidly warming sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific could lead to an El Niño event this summer and autumn, increasing the uncertainty of seasonal climate forecasts.
