Autumn has arrived later than usual

Monday was the first day of autumn, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau announced on Friday, after the daily average temperature during the week had stayed below 22 degrees Celsius.

The bureau said summer in Shanghai generally lasts for 126 to 127 days with the city entering autumn on October 2. However, this year's summer lasted for 148 days to delay the arrival of autumn.

This autumn is the city's fourth latest while the summer was the third longest.

Summer also saw more and heavier rain, stronger typhoons and fewer high temperature days, the bureau said.

Total precipitation in summer reached 1,343.8 millimeters, the highest of all summers that have exceeded the city's average yearly precipitation.

There were 10 days with torrential rains during the summer, three times the average and equaling the summer in 1999.

There were four typhoons that affected the city — Lekima, Lingling, Tapha and Mitag. Lekima and Lingling both reached the level of a super typhoon. The precipitation brought by typhoons accounted for about a third of the summer total, the bureau said.

The average temperature in summer was 25.6 degrees Celsius, lower than general, while the number of high temperature days was 11, fewer than the average of past years.

The first weekend of autumn will be dry and sunny. However, the temperature difference between day and night will grow. Suburban areas will be much cooler early in the morning.

The clear weather is expected to last into next week. Temperatures will range from 16 to 24 degrees between Saturday and Thursday. It will be cooler next weekend with the high dropping to 21 degrees.