It's autumn and it's hot
The hot weather is expected to continue over the week, with the mercury expected to hover around 35 degrees Celsius.
Under the traditional Chinese calendar, Sunday marked the end of the 40-day sanfu period and the start of autumn. But that doesn’t mean the end of hot weather as the lingering subtropical high is gathering strength, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.
The temperature is forecast to stay at 33 degrees on Monday, and climb to 34 degrees on Tuesday. It will continue to increase and peak at 36 degrees in the middle of the week. However, residents may not feel that uncomfortable because a southeast wind that will usher in fresh air from the sea.
The bureau predicts occasional scattered downpours on Monday and Tuesday. Then, it is forecast to be cloudy to sunny.
Around midnight last Saturday, Shanghai was placed on this year’s first orange alert for lightening, the third alarm in the four-tier system, warning lightening-triggered disasters and severe thunderstorms.
Throughout the night, residents across the city were bothered by growls of thunder and the flashes of lightening. After 11 hours and by 7am on Sunday, precipitation accumulated to 106.8 milliliters in Baoshan District, 60.2 milliliters on Jiading District and 46.1 milliliters on Chongming Island. Downtown Xujiahui area had 22.4 milliliters of rain.
On Sunday afternoon, showers hit the city again, which helped to cool the temperatures. Nonetheless, Xujiahui recorded 30.8 degrees.
Since July, Shanghai has recorded 31 days with temperatures of 35 degrees or higher, including eight in August. After a weeklong break, the heat made its return on August 18, with the mercury soaring to 35.1 degrees. The next day, it hit a high of 37.6 degrees.
