No end yet in sight for plum rains

By Lu Feiran  |   2008-6-28  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

RAINSTORMS hit the city yesterday, causing water to rise on more than 10 roads in Baoshan and Putuo districts.

The water caused traffic jams in both districts, but was quickly drained, said the Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters.

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued a blue rainstorm alert at 12:04pm, and updated it to a yellow one two hours later. The alert, which is the third level on the four-level scale, indicated the rainfall would reach 50 millimeters within six hours.

Baoshan District yesterday had the most rainfall with 80 millimeters on average, with Yanghang County alone recording 117 millimeters, according to the Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters.

In Changning, Jing'an, Hongkou and Zhabei districts, the rainfall also exceeded 50 millimeters, officials said.

The rainstorm was caused by this year's sixth typhoon, Fengshen, weakening to a rain cloud cluster, forecasters said.

Rain is expected to continue this morning. Drizzle or thunderstorms may still hit tomorrow afternoon as well as the beginning of next week.

It's still hard to say whether the plum rain season will end during the next week, as current observation showed the subtropical high would not be strong enough to move the plum rain belt, said the SMB.

The maximum temperature will rise back to near 30 degrees Celsius at the weekend, and will rise even higher to 32 to 33 degrees next week. The lows will range between 23 to 24 degrees. As the relative humidity is still high, the weather will be rather muggy, forecasters said.