The capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region saw a temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius shortly after midday Friday, a record high since the city's meteorological data began in 1951.

Lhasa, with an altitude of 3, 650 meters above sea, reported a temperature of 29.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, reaching the previous record set on June 15, 1998, the Tibet Meteorological Station said.

Since the beginning of July, the capital city had had 14 days with temperatures higher than 28 degrees Celsius, said the station.

The precipitation since the beginning of July in most parts of Tibet was down half compared with the same period in previous years, with Lhasa and Ali down more than 90 percent, according to the regional meteorological station.

Liu Yijun, a senior engineer at the Lhasa Meteorolgical Bureau, said Tibet had seen abnormal weather in many parts, featuring less rainfall and a longer span of days with high temperatures, this year.

(Xinhua News agency July 25, 2009)