The hottest day ever

A swimmer enjoys the sunshine in a swimming pool in Jiading district Wednesday, when the temperature hit a new record high of 40.8 C. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

The temperature in Shanghai hit a new all-time high of 40.8 C downtown Wednesday, breaking a record going back to 1934, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

It was the highest temperature the city has experienced since it began keeping regular records 140 years ago.

The weather bureau issued its fifth red heat alert of the year at 7:52 am. The bureau issues the warning, the highest on its three-tier heat alert system, whenever the high temperature is expected to surpass 40 C over the following 24 hours.

Before this year, the bureau had only issued one red heat alert, on July 20, 2009.

The high temperature matched the previous record Tuesday when it hit 40.6 C, the weather bureau said. It was the second time this year that the temperature matched the previous record.

Weather bureau forecasters predicted that the high temperature will be 39 C Thursday, according to the bureau's website.

Because Thursday is National Fitness Day, the city's 300 government-funded gymnasiums and stadiums will be open to the public for free, including Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, Shanghai Jiangwan Stadium and Changning District Swimming Pool, the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau said.

Changning District Swimming Pool, located at 1041 Yuyuan Road, will not charge admission during four 90-minute periods between 6:30 am to 5:30 pm, said an employee surnamed Li. The pool will allow 150 people to swim during each period.

The sports bureau has organized athletic competitions and other activities for the day. It will hold basketball shooting contests at about 200 public basketball courts around the city. The city's first amateur diving competition will kick off Thursday at Moon Bay, the Oriental Sports Center's outdoor diving pool.

The bureau also reminded residents to avoid exercising outdoors around midday due to the heat.