CHONGQING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Beibei district in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality recorded a record high temperature of 45 degrees Celsius at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

By that time, over 30 districts and counties in Chongqing had reported temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

On Thursday, Chongqing issued a red alert for high temperatures, the most severe warning in the country's four-tier weather warning system. It was Chongqing's eighth red warning since the beginning of the summer.

Since July this year, Chongqing has calculated more than 33 days with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. The average temperature in the municipality was 2.6 degrees Celsius higher than in the same period of previous years.

Weather forecasts show that heatwaves will continue to blaze across Chongqing over the coming week.