City enjoys a brief spring day in winter
Bund visitors dress down as they take pictures on a spring-like day.
A high of 21.6 degrees Celsius at the benchmark Xujiahui weather station made Monday the warmest Xiaohan, or Slight Cold, the 23rd solar term of the Chinese lunar year, since records began in 1873.
Xiaohan's arrival generally indicates that the coldest period of winter is coming, and that's the case in northern China, where many cities have received their first fall of snow.
In Shanghai's suburban areas, temperatures rose to 23 and 24 degrees, with the weather station in Minhang District seeing the highest 24-degree reading.
Wu Rui, chief service officer at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, it was rare to see such a spring-like warm day in early January.
He said the cold air in winter was not as strong as in the past and this round of warming was caused by warm and moist air flows in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
"The warm flows are powerful. But the cold front which is chilling northern China with rains and snowfalls will soon arrive in the south. Before its arrival, the strong warm flows will be squeezed and caused an increase in temperature and humidity," Wu said.
The warming condition is expected to continue on Tuesday with temperatures climbing to 22 degrees. There will be morning fog in some areas.
However, from Tuesday afternoon, a strong cold front will sweep the city with a sharp temperature drop and gales with some showers in the evening.
The lows in downtown areas for Wednesday and Thursday will be between 4 and 5 degrees, while lows of 2 to 3 degrees will be seen in the outskirts. The highs will fall to 8 and 9 degrees on both days.
The high will increase slightly to 11 degrees on Friday and Saturday but drop again to 8 on Sunday.
Wednesday will be dry and cloudy. Skies will be drizzly at times on Thursday and Friday, and the rain will increase on Saturday.
The warm weather makes a winter visit to the Bund an enjoyable day out.
T-shirts and rolled up shirt sleeves as Shanghai basks in unusually warm winter weather.
It's jackets off for these visitors to Nanjing Road.
Ice creams in winter for these pedestrians on Nanjing Road.
This pair of pedestrians on Nanjing Road have no need of winter jackets.
A foreign woman uses her hand to shade her eyes from the sun.
T-shirt weather on the Bund for this couple enjoying the winter warmth.
Visitors to the Bund enjoy the spring-like weather on a winter's day when the temperature rises to 21.6 degrees Celsius.
