Overview
- Chinese authorities issued the warning on Friday, June 12, 2026, after footage from early June showed water filling normally dry dunes in the Taklamakan Desert.
- Officials and the China Meteorological Administration say this season’s threat comes from an unusual convergence of very early high temperatures, localized heavy rainfall and accelerated melt from Tianshan and Kunlun glaciers.
- Temperatures in Xinjiang have run about 7.3°C above normal and reached roughly 38°C, while some areas have seen two to three times the typical early-June rainfall, triggering Tarim River overflow into low-lying desert basins.
- Authorities warned the sudden surges can damage roads, railways and oil and gas facilities and raise the risk of dam failure on mountain tributaries, including a tributary of the Aksu River near the Kyrgyzstan border.
- Longer-term data show a rise in heavy-rain events and a northward shift of rain belts, which stresses infrastructure not built for sudden desert surges and means short-term local water gains will evaporate quickly.