Cold week ahead with mercury below 10 degrees

Local residents are, finally, likely to feel continuous winter cold this week with mercury staying below 10 degrees Celsius, forecasters said.

There will be little precipitation this week with short-lived drizzle from Tuesday to Thursday.

On Sunday, the concentration of PM2.5 increased to 156 micrograms per cubic meter at 10pm, heavy pollution. The AQI reached 206, 106 points higher than that which is considered safe.

This week will begin chilly and polluted with only 4 degrees downtown on Monday morning with suburban areas around the freezing point. The high will be no more than 9 degrees during the daytime with PM2.5 particles remaining to be the main pollutant. 

The warmer, moist air on Tuesday, which cause sporadic drizzle through Thursday.  The lows will rise a bit to 5 to 7 degrees with highs remaining at 9 to 10 degrees.

Friday will be cloudy and dry with a high of 8 and a low of 6.

For those ready to return home for Spring Festival, smog may be quite bad in northern China and regions along the Yellow and Huai rivers on Monday. Eastern Henan, western Shandong and northern Anhui provinces may see heavy smog.

Xinjiang and Tibet will see some snow at the start of the week.

From Tuesday, western China and the region south of the Yangtze River, will be wet.