People struggle to keep dry as a sudden rainstorm hits the city yesterday. Over 140 flights were canceled and 120 were delayed at Shanghai's two airports because of the storm.(Zhu Weihui)
Over 140 flights were canceled and about 120 more were delayed at Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports yesterday due to stormy weather, the Shanghai Airport Authority said.
Yesterday a storm brought heavy rains with gusty winds, prompting the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau to issue yellow alerts for rainstorms and lightning at 4:15am and 8:01am.
The yellow alert was lifted for a while after the rain began to ease by 11am, but was reinstated at 1:34pm when more thundershowers hit the city.
According to the bureau, between 4am and 4pm, most of the city recorded precipitation of over 20 millimeters and the Pudong New Area was hit the hardest with 35 millimeters.
The Air Traffic Management Bureau issued an orange alert, the second highest of its four-tier alert system, for both airports from 8am through 5pm yesterday because of heavy rainfall accompanied by lightning and thunder hitting the city.
It had predicted that the takeoff and landing capacity of Shanghai's two airports would be reduced by half. The situation improved around noon when the rain stopped. However, 80 flights were cancelled and 60 more were delayed at Hongqiao airport after 4pm.
China Southern Airlines issued a flight delay advisory in the afternoon and cancelled four outbound flights from Hongqiao and five flights from Pudong to Beijing, Guangzhou and northeast and central China.
Passengers lined up at Hongqiao airport's Terminal 2 building to wait to change their flights or get refunds as airlines continuously announced cancellations. The city's flood prevention authority issued a flood alert around 1:30pm, estimating that over 50 millimeters of water had accumulated across the city.
Today there will be a few thundershowers in the morning and then sporadic showers in the afternoon and evening.
The skies will clear briefly tomorrow morning, but in the afternoon the thundershowers will return.
On Friday it will be overcast with occasional thundershowers.
It will be dry and cloudy on Saturday morning, but the afternoon will see scattered thundershowers.
More of the same is expected on Sunday.
The mercury will range from 22 to 27 degrees Celsius today, but it will rise to 31 degrees tomorrow and will be between 26 and 34 degrees from Friday through Sunday.
