Residents brace for coldest day of the year as winter finally arrives

Zhu Yuting
This year's coldest day is set to arrive in Shanghai on Monday when the low temperature will see a sharp drop to minus 6 degrees Celsius in the suburbs and -2 degrees in downtown.
Zhu Yuting
Subtitles by Zhu Yuting and Sun Chao.

Shanghai is expected to enter a meteorological winter on Saturday, the same time as in 1991 – the latest arrival of winter in the city, local weather authorities said.

This year's coldest day is forecast to arrive in Shanghai on Monday as the low temperature will see a sharp drop to minus 6 degrees Celsius in the suburbs and -2 degrees in downtown city.

The strong cold front will affect the city from Friday night to next Wednesday with gale-force winds, rain and snow expected in some areas.

The temperature is expected to fluctuate between 2 and 5 degrees on Saturday, -1 and 3 degrees on Sunday and -2 and 4 degrees on Monday. The mercury will warm up to range from 2 to 11 degrees on Wednesday.

The Shanghai Emergency Management Bureau has reminded local residents to keep warm and safe during the frigid period and asked relevant departments to be fully prepared for the disaster weather.

Local water authorities have started strengthening water supply and emergency anti-freezing supplies, such as snow remover, industrial salt and sacks, have been prepared in advance, with water pipes being protected by anti-leakage measures across the city.

Around 2,600 crew members are on 24-hour standby for possible water system issues during the cold-front period, when more than 1,700 secondary emergency repair crews will be on-call as well.

About 400 kilometers of old water supply network in Shanghai have been repaired and upgraded ahead of schedule. So far, the city has completed the transformation for more than 3,000km of old water pipes.

In case of pipe bursts or freezing faucets in residential complexes, people can call 12345, which provides multilingual service, to learn about the department or companies which are in charge of water supply facilities and request timely repairs.


Special Reports

Top