Dry and warm start for Qingming Festival

The upcoming three-day Qingming Festival holiday is expected to have a dry and warm start but end up cool and drizzly, forecasters said.

After the holiday, it will get warm with the highest temperature approaching 20 degrees Celsius.

The weather on Friday will be similar to Thursday with cloudy skies and mild temperatures between 10 and 17 degrees.

According to Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, the city will be under the northern edge of a rain belt during the holiday, which begins on Saturday, with no significant rainfall but large fluctuations in temperatures.

Sunshine will light up the city on Saturday with a high of 20 degrees. But clouds will increase on Sunday with the skies turning overcast and the high falling by 5 degrees. It will remain at 15 degrees on Monday, which will also see some drizzle at times.

From Tuesday, it will be dry with temperatures rising to 18 degrees. The high will stay at 18 through Thursday and reach 20 at the weekend.

The low for the following week will range between 10 and 12 degrees.

Answering the question as to why it often rains during the Qingming Festival, the bureau said that with temperatures rising across China and cold air from northern China flowing south, rain is the result when cold and warm air meet.