The plum rain season will be delayed this year, at least until next week, when rainy days will become more frequent, weather forecasters said yesterday.
The mercury will start climbing from today and drop on Sunday due to rain, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.
Today should be cloudy with the mercury rising to 31 degrees Celsius from yesterday's 25.4 degrees.
The air quality should be fine to lightly polluted today, the bureau said.
Tomorrow and Saturday are expected to be cloudy with a high of 33 degrees, but there could be light haze on Saturday.
Rains will be back from Sunday, bringing down the temperature.
Sunday should be cloudy to overcast with showers, with the mercury ranging from a high of 29 degrees to a low of 22 degrees.
Monday will be the same but the high temperature will be 27 degrees.
The low should also drop slightly to 21 degrees.
Rainy days will be more frequent next week under the influence of a rain belt in the Jiangnan area (the southern region of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River), making it possible that Shanghai enters the plum rain season, said Wu Rui, a chief service officer of the bureau.
Fu Yi, another chief service officer at the weather bureau, told Shanghai Daily that the plum rain season depends on several factors including the rainband's staying stable at the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River, continued precipitation, heat wave and high humidity.
