Fog and smog as conditions worsen in China

Shanghai yesterday was obscured by a morning fog and smog in the afternoon after the air conditions worsened due to particles brought by a cold front from the north, forecasters said. The density of the PM2.5 particles rose to 183.5 micrograms per cubic meter at 10pm, when the city’s air was reported as lightly polluted with an Air Quality Index of 118. The AQI today will range between 95 and 115 in the morning, the local environmental monitoring center forecast, indicating the possibility for lightly polluted air if it exceeds 100. But the air quality will be better with an AQI reading of under 90 this afternoon. High pressure is set to dominate the city over the next few days and sunny skies are likely at the weekend. Cloudy skies may appear on Monday and Tuesday followed by a sunny Wednesday. The northerly cold front will start to affect the city next week and temperature will fall. The weekend’s mercury will hover between 2 and 10 degrees Celsius and Monday will see a low of 3 and a high of 10. But the temperature will drop to between 1 and 6 degrees on Tuesday, with Wednesday’s low expected to fall to zero. The yellow alerts for fog and haze issued by the National Meteorological Center remained yesterday. The center predicted heavy fog to cover areas in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Sichuan provinces this morning. Some of these regions will also experience moderate haze. A low visibility of below 500 meters is expected in Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Sichuan