Cloud forecast as football begins

By Liang Yiwen  |   2008-8-4  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SHANGHAI will probably be cloudy with temperatures around 31 to 33 degrees Celsius when the first Olympic football match is held at Shanghai Stadium on Thursday, weatherman said yesterday.

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau has been monitoring the weather around Shanghai Stadium since July 25 every three hours to reach a precise forecast for the Games, the bureau said.

Today will be sunny to cloudy, with temperatures ranging from 28 to 36 degrees Celsius. Yesterday's highest temperature was 33.7 degrees with thunderstorms hitting the city in late afternoon.

"The dry weather with sunny periods is expected to continue to Thursday, when the subtropical high moves north," said Man Liping, a forecaster with the bureau. "At that time, the city will have south-east wind, and the daily high temperature will drop to below 34 degrees. Showers are expected on Friday and Saturday."

The bureau said another typhoon was expected this month following last week's Fung Wong typhoon.

Saturday was the 18th day of this summer when temperatures exceeded 35 degrees, twice the average number of summer days that were recorded from 1971 to 2000.

The continuous hot weather has been pushing up demand for natural gas in the city, with daily supplies over 10 million cubic meters, setting a new record for the summer, said the city's gas company.

The company's repair service will be open every day during the Olympics and it said repairmen would be able to reach residences within the Inner Ring Road within 45 minutes of a call.