Shanghai prepares for cold wave's arrival
A drill on the issuing of a red snow storm alert is held by 10 city departments on Monday.
A blue alert for the cold wave was released by the city’s meteorological bureau at 5pm on Monday. It will affect the city during the following four days, with temperatures declining by 9 to 11 degrees Celsius in 48 hours.
The forecast strong cold front from the north will arrive in the city early this winter so temperatures will be the lowest year on year in the recent 20 years, said Tian Hongjun, a chief forecaster with the bureau.
The maximum temperature will decrease from 13 degrees on Tuesday to freezing point on Wednesday, with the low declining from 5 to minus 4. The lowest will be seen on the last day of the year, reaching minus 5 degrees in urban areas and minus 8 in suburban districts.
The wind will increase from Tuesday's 28 kilometers per hour to 74 kilometers per hour on Wednesday. The maximum sea wind near the city will be 117 kilometers per hour, which may endanger the steamboat.
Moderate rain and sleet can be seen on Tuesday and the snow is expected in the small hours of Wednesday morning. The rest of the week will be sunny, the authority said.
Tian said the snow will last only one to two hours because of weak warm and humid air.
Although accumulations of snow are unlikely, people should watch out for ice on the roads, he said.
“People had better stay inside to reduce the risk of accidents,” he said.
Ten city departments, including the water, weather and emergency bureaus, take part in an extreme weather drill on Monday.
To solve problems caused by the strong cold front, a drill on the issuing of red snow storm alerts was held by the 10 city departments on Monday.
Red is the highest in the four-color system. The drill is based on a unified management system, connecting the transport system, disaster response system and meteorological system, and a plug-in unit launched by the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. It is the first time for such kind of a system to be used in response to the extreme weather.
With the help of high technology, related departments can work together and the alert information, issued by the weather bureau, can be received by the emergency bureau within 10 seconds, the local government in 31 seconds and the public in 60 seconds via WeChat, Weibo and television. All emergency plans, such as de-icing and enhancing traffic management, will be implemented by the departments in five minutes.
Compared with a similar drill at the beginning of the year, the time take to react to bad weather has been cut. Previously, the alert information was sent to the city’s organizations in five minutes but now it only takes one minute.
The city’s road administrators said maintenance workers are prepared for the cold weather ahead.
Maintenance workers take part in a de-icing drill at the Outer Ring Road.
Special attention will be given to ramps at elevated roads, large viaducts of expressways and bridges over the Huangpu River. All maintenance work using water will be stopped when temperatures are under 5 degrees.
Over 200 professional emergency reaction road maintenance squads have prepared a sufficient amount of straw bags, sand and de-icing salt as well as vehicles and machines for the purpose.
The road administration authorities will exchange real-time information with traffic police, firefighters and meteorological authorities.
Meanwhile, doctors from Ruijin Hospital have released health tips for the public during extreme weather.
Zhao Qiang, vice president and director of cardiac surgery, said people with high blood pressure should keep warm, while ventilating rooms properly.
People should drink warm water and avoid morning exercise, said director of neurology Liu Jun.
Liu Yan, director of the burns and plastic surgery unit, reminded people to pay attention to being scalded when using hotpots and heating pads.
The meteorological bureau said the cold wave will leave the city from Friday with maximum temperatures gradually rising to 11 degrees.
