Lhasa, July 25 (Xinhua) The Tibetan Autonomous Region in southwest China Friday saw a record high temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius since the meteorological department began recording data in 1951, officials said.

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

Lhasa recorded temperatures higher than 28 degrees Celsius in the first 14 days of July, the station said.

Since the beginning of July, precipitation in most parts of Tibet was half compared with the same period in the previous years. The average rainfall in the Lhasa city and Ali town dropped by more than 90 percent compared with the previous years, officials said.

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