City spared effects of northern sandstorm
People enjoy the spring among the canola flowers in Minhang District on Sunday.
The city’s air quality will not be affected by the second sandstorm in China in two weeks, the Shanghai Ecology and Environment Bureau said on Sunday.
The sandstorm began to influence the northern areas, including Beijing, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, on Friday, Beijing’s environment center said.
The concentration of PM10 in Beijing has surpassed 2,000 micrograms per cubic meter as of 7am on Sunday, the center said. A figure over 500 indicates serious air pollution.
The air quality will return to good or slightly polluted in Beijing on Sunday night because of a north-westerly wind, it said.
Data on the concentration of PM10 collected by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre at 3pm on Sunday.
The pollutant will not reach Shanghai because the wind direction in the city will be southerly or easterly between Sunday night and Monday.
But the city's air is forecast to be slightly polluted between Sunday night and Monday morning. Because of the stable atmospheric structure and high humidity in the city, the pollutants, especially PM2.5, will be hard to diffuse.
With the wind force increasing from around 20 kilometers per hour to 30 kilometers per hour, the air quality will be good between Monday afternoon and Wednesday.
A senior poses for photographs amid canola flowers in Minhang District on Sunday.
Light rain or showers are expected during the first six days of next week. The high temperature will decline from 24 degrees Celsius on Monday to 15 degrees on Tuesday, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said on Sunday.
It will go up to 22 degrees on Friday gradually but return to around 18 degrees over the weekend. The low will fluctuate between 13 and 17 degrees during the next week.
Qingming, the fifth solar term of the Chinese lunar year, will begin next Sunday. It indicates that it is a good time for spring
