Plum harvest brings June showers
- Source: Global Times
- [10:05 June 18 2010]
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By Chen Xiaoru
Pedestrians walk along the bridge on Huaihai Road with umbrellas Thursday as the city officially entered the plum rain season. Photo: Cai Xianmin
Weather authorities announced that the city officially entered the "plum rain season" Thursday, which started a period of rainy weather and humid temperatures that typically last up to three weeks.
The huangmei season, or plum rain season, usually begins in mid-June when the rain belt hovers above the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and is named after the fruit for the rainy days that begin when the plums are harvested.
Authorities are expecting rain and thunder from today through Tuesday, and also predict heavy showers for Sunday and Monday.
In addition to dampness in the air, temperatures will remain miserably high for at least three days, and possibly five, peaking at some 34 C, authorities added.
In past years the season generally spans an average of 20 days, or at least two weeks and as long as three, but weather authorities are uncertain at the moment when it will end this year, Zhao Shuo, press officer for the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, told the Global Times Thursday.
Last year, the plum rain season lasted for a span of 19 days from June 20 to July 8, according to the bureau.
Meanwhile, visitors at the Expo Park should watch their step as the grounds can become slippery after rainfall, organizers told the Global Times in an earlier interview last month. The cautionary words came after several visitors reportedly slipped and fell inside the park after it rained during the trial runs before the opening of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
