Yesterday, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau announced that spring has officially arrived in Shanghai.
According to the bureau, the definition of spring in China is when the average daytime temperature exceeds 10 degrees Celsius for five consecutive days, for the first time that year. The temperatures over the last five days, as you may have felt, met this condition perfectly, which makes March 11 the first official day of spring for 2018.
This year, the arrival of spring is slightly early when compared to 2017, as last year we waited until March 25. This also means a shorter winter with a day count of only 96 days, making it 26 days less than that of last year. Which is surprising during those cold few months, we witnessed the heaviest snowfall in five years.
Although spring is already in Shanghai, don’t put away your thick coats just yet. Last night, the chilling weather made a comeback as a result of another cold front and the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau released a blue alert for gale-force winds at 4.49pm yesterday afternoon. As the first level in the four-tier alarm system (blue, yellow, orange and red), the blue alert suggests that wind speed in the following 12 hours could range between 39 kilometers per hour (10.8 m/s) and 74 kilometers per hour (20.7 m/s). Pedestrians are advised not to ride bikes and linger under billboards.
The temperature, under the influence of the cold front, will take a nosedive as well. The highest temperature today is expected to be 11 degrees Celsius, and we are about to welcome another round of rainfall. As predicted by Weather Channel, the cold and drizzling days will accompany us until next Wednesday March 21.
So, during this period of inconsistent weather, be careful not to succumb to a cold while the high-incidence flu season is upon us, and with any luck a steady flow of warmer days will greet us soon.
