City's fog, rain ground 20,000

FOG and rain left at least 20,000 passengers stranded at Hongqiao and Pudong airports yesterday, as nearly 200 flights were delayed and canceled.

Among them were about 70 overseas flights, mostly to Hong Kong, said officials with the Pudong frontier inspection station.

More rains are expected in the coming days, with a high possibility for fog.

In addition to fog, the city was hit by a heavy thunderstorm yesterday.

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued a yellow thunder alert at 4:29pm, the third of the four-leveled system, warning the accumulated rainfall would reach 50 millimeters overnight.

The bureau said rainfall reached 70 millimeters in Jinshan District, prompting a yellow shower alert.

No significant flooding was reported by last night.

More rain is expected today, but the sky should clear tomorrow, the bureau said.

The weather will again turn rainy on Thursday and Friday.

The temperature over the next three days should be stable, with the high around 20 degrees Celsius and the low around 16.

The bureau said the next drop in temperature will occur on Friday.

On Saturday the mercury is expected to fall to 9 degrees Celsius.

The dense fog blocked about 100 ships in Shanghai ports, authorities said.

The bureau issued a yellow fog alert at 3am, warning of visibility less than 500 meters.

About 100 ships canceled or postponed their trips, local port officials said.

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