Get ready to freeze

The cold front which is now sweeping the country will affect Shanghai early this week with the lows dropping to single digits, forecasters said.

The cold snap will come to an end on Wednesday and, from Thursday, mild weather will return with lows back in the teens and the high bouncing to perhaps over 20 degrees Celsius.

According to the meteorological  bureau, Sunday's warmth was due to the cold front pushing the warm air mass before it.

Cold air will cool most of central and eastern China on Monday and is likely to fall to record lows during the second half of this year.

This cold front is more powerful than previous, and the low for Monday will drop to 9 degrees. Strong winds and drizzle are also expected. It will feel like winter.

The bureau issued a blue alert for gales at 5pm on Sunday, while suburban Chongming, Fengxian, Jinshan, Minhang, Qingpu and Songjiang districts all released blue cold or gale alerts.

Along with the cold air, some pollutants have been carried to the city. Monday may see lightly to moderately polluted air, and residents are warned to spend less time outside.

The temperatures will go downward and on Tuesday, the low has a chance to drop to 7 degrees in downtown areas and 3 to 5 degrees in outskirts.

The mercury will rise after Wednesday with the high back to 20 degrees and the low back to up 10 degrees.

The 20th solar term Xiaoxue, or minor snow, is on Friday. During this solar term, the weather will get much colder with rain being freezing to snowflakes: minor snow. It will soon be followed by Daxue, great snow.