China issued its first national drought alert of the year this week amid more than two months of record-breaking temperatures and below average rainfall, Chinese state media reports.

Why it matters: The "yellow" alert is the third-highest on China's four-tier system and comes as central and southwest regions are facing some of the highest temperatures ever recorded.

Driving the news: The district of Beibei, north of Chongqing in the southwestern region of the country, hit 113°F (45°C) on Thursday, the highest reliable temperature ever recorded outside Xinjiang.

Threat level: This heat wave has set records for its geographic footprint, with the largest-ever area with high temperatures above 104°F (40°C) —527,029 square miles, beating the old record of 299,615 square miles, according to state media.

Context: Research sh0ws that human-caused global warming significantly raises the odds, severity and longevity of heat waves. Chinese state media cited climate change as a main cause of the extreme heat and drought.

A recent study, for example, found that global warming made a UK heat wave 10 times more likely and at least 7°F hotter than it would have been in the absence of greenhouse gas emissions.

What to watch: Dry weather and low rainfall is expected to continue for the next three days and forecasters expect the extreme heat to continue for another week, according to state media and computer model projections.

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