Fog slows bus service

By Lu Feiran and Dong Zhen  |   2008-11-5  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

HEAVY fog rolled across parts of Shanghai yesterday morning, shutting down traffic on some highways and waterways but leaving city transport mostly unscathed.

In suburban areas such as Jinshan, Qingpu and Fengxian districts, visibility was cut to 100 to 200 meters from 5am to 7am. On Chongming Island, the visibility was only 60 meters, the lowest in the city.

Conditions in the downtown were much better, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said.

The bureau issued an orange fog alert - the second most serious on a three-color scale - about 6am.

"The fog was one of the most serious to hit the city this year," said Man Liping, a bureau forecaster.

"The relative humidity was high from the recent rains, causing thick fog to form when cooling occurred."

During the last 10 days of October, the city recorded 52.2 millimeters of rainfall, about three times the normal level.

The fog slowed land and water traffic, causing the most problems for long-distance buses.

More than 200 long-distance coaches that were scheduled to leave Shanghai yesterday morning, mostly for northern Jiangsu Province, were canceled or postponed because several bridges across the Yangtze River were shut down. Some highways in Zhejiang and Jiangsu were also closed briefly but were all back in operation after 9:30am.

A small number of ships also had to delay their departures for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River as fog blanketed the waters in some parts of Jiangsu Province.

The fog didn't affect any other local ship traffic or ferry services. Flights at both city airports were on schedule.

The fog may return this morning, but visibility should be better, around 500 to 1,000 meters, Man said.