Beware of haze but new cold snap will bring pollution relief
The city is likely to choke under a thick haze — described as the heaviest since 2017 — until late Friday, local environment officials are warning.
Due to stable weather conditions, tiny PM2.5 particles are gaining weight. A blue alert for air pollution, unveiled at 7am on Tuesday, was upgraded to yellow at 6:30am on Wednesday — the first time this year.
By 5pm on Wednesday, the city’s air quality index had exceeded 200 — indicating heavy pollution — for a total of 40 hours, monitoring figures showed.
Haze will continue to envelop the city, causing moderate to heavy air pollution, until Friday when a new cold snap will arrive and blow pollutants away, according to the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center.
Under the yellow alert, childcare facilities are required to suspend outdoor activities, trucks loaded with construction waste are banned from roads, and open-air barbecue and other kinds of burning are prohibited.
According to the center, this round of air pollution is the worst since 2017.
The cold front from the north that arrived in the city late on Monday brought along air pollutants. But instead of leaving, it has been lingering on the city, accumulating pollutants. A new cold snap, set to arrive late on Friday, may sweep the skies clean. The air quality will turn to fine on Saturday, the center forecast.
Meanwhile, the frigid weather continues, forecasters said.
Thursday will be sunny, with the low temperature hovering around minus 1 degree Celsius and a high of around 6 degrees. The mercury will climb a little on Friday, with the low up to 1 degree and the high rising to 7 degrees, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.
Saturday and Sunday will be cloudy to overcast. The minimum temperature will drop to minus 3 degrees, with the maximum falling to 2 degrees. Next Monday will be colder, with the low down to minus 4 degrees.
