Shanghai records highest temperature in 145 yrs; red alert on

Shanghai today recorded its highest temperature in 145 years at 40.9 degrees Celsius with authorities issuing a red alert for China's economic hub which is reeling under an intense heatwave.

The previous record high temperature of 40.8 degrees Celsius was recorded on August 7, 2013 in the city.

The red alert for high temperature was issued by the Shanghai Central Meteorological Observatory.

A total of 13 high temperature red alerts have been issued since the new meteorological early warning system was adopted in 2007.

China has a three-tier early warning system for high temperatures: a yellow warning is issued when high temperature above 35 degrees Celsius is predicted for three consecutive days, orange indicates a predicted high temperature of 37 degrees in the next 24 hours and a red alert is issued when the temperature is forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius within 24 hours.

Heatwaves have hit the city since the beginning of summer and are expected to linger until the end of July, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)