41st hot day of year but heat wave’s ending

Boys play it cool at Lingshi Park Thursday. Temperatures are set to dip in the city over the next few days.

Shanghai recorded its 41st high-temperature day of the year Thursday, the longest stretch in six decades.

But forecasters are confident that the 35.4 degrees Celsius recorded spelled the end of the current heat wave.

Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued a yellow high temperature alert — the lowest in a three-level system — at 12:28pm yesterday. The bureau is unlikely to issue alerts for at least seven days as temperatures are set to drop below the 35-degree benchmark.

Temperatures today are forecast at between 28 and 34 degrees, with cloud and some showers. Tomorrow will be cloudy and showers are possible, with a top temperature of 34 degrees.

The air quality index was 57 at 6pm yesterday, said the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center, indicating fair air quality.