Warm weather to continue until Monday plunge

Saturday was warm, and Sunday will be warmer, with the temperature expected to reach 20 degrees Celsius, forecasters said.

Saturday was as warm as spring in Shanghai, with temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees. But due to the static weather, most suburbs had visibility of less than 500 meters from midnight to Saturday morning. There was also light to moderate haze and moderate air pollution during the day, triggering a yellow alert which caused the cancellation of the fireworks show at Shanghai Disneyland.

Forecasters said the haze and low visibility will continue from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

The temperature is forecast between 9 and 19 degrees on Sunday, with the possibility of seeing mercury reaching 20 in some areas.

Authority said the warm weather in winter is unusual as the benchmark Xuhui weather station has only observed four years with mid-January's highest temperature more than 19 degrees since 1982.

But a cold front is expected to arrive in the evening, which will bring down the temperature along with some light rain.

The temperature on Monday is forecast to plunge to 9 degrees, and some suburbs will experience freezing weather on Tuesday morning.

But the chill won't stay long as next Thursday will see temperatures near 20 degrees again.