How Cold is Shanghai Today

Do you want to know how cold Shanghai is, in a visual way? Let me show you some pictures I took 2 hours ago.

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

It seems the coldness has caused the water pipe on the top floor to break, and the water formed the long ice line. Although it is an accident (not so icey everywhere), it is a visual representation of how cold Shanghai is – it is not common for Shanghai to form so thick ice.

The whole surface of the lake is freezen to ice.

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Shanghai is Freezing

Shanghai is so cool these days – the water in the lake before my apartment has already frozen- you can ice on the surface of the lake.

If you are coming to Shanghai, please take my alert: please bring some warm cloths with you.

Even people from Toronto, north part of China will feel the cold weather in Shanghai hard to bear. It is that kind of humid cold – very different from the coldness in north or central part of China. Let me tell you exactly how it feels – it is like putting you into the cold water of 0 degree. Don’t let the 0 degree mislead you – it is colder than you think if you come from somewhere the normal temperature is below 0. In those areas, there are heating equipment everywhere, and it may not as humid. Most large cities north of Shanghai have heating equipment in winter. Shanghai? No.

Good luck!

Beautiful Thoughts with Beautiful Scene

Hello. Shanghai is so beautiful in early Winter. I don’t like very cold winter, or very hot summer. The feeling is so deeply left in my impression of the city, especially when you get into your car in winter – cooold, and in summer – hoooott.

But if you have to ask me Winter or Summer, which do you love better in Shanghai? I still may say, I love Winter better, at least Shanghai is relatively more elegent, more decent in winter.

Look at this picture I took inside the gate of the Shanghai Jiaotong University. See the leaves? See the trees? The color? The sunshine?

Photo by Jian Shuo Wang, uploaded from Nokia N78 via Shozu

A Break?

I am thinking about a break during my crazy days. In my current terms, a break means maybe two hours that I can sit under the sunshine inside a warm room with big glasses, and feel the warms of the Sun. It is so nice to be living in this lovely city, with a wife who I really appreciate, and a cute small boy just started to learn to walk (did I told you that Ayi told me that Yifan started to learn a very compliciated sentence “Don’t talk” 不要说话, after he was only able to say baba, and mama for many months?)

Friends

Didn’t have the weekend gathering of my friends for a long time – few years? Work and Yifan took most of the time. Sometimes, I just glance at friends’ blog, and know they are travelling or changing job (not too much in recent months before the financial winter comes). I am fine with the current status. People change a lot when they get a baby (something attractive to him/her suddenly become not attractive any more, just like meat to a monk…)

The winter is beautiful. and my thoughts also become beautiful…

Snow Scene in Shanghai Again

This is the snow scene of my garden again, taken in yesterday morning.

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Compare the photo above to this one. The below one was taken on Feb 1, 2005, in my article Heavy Snow in Shanghai. I should not have called it heavy snow compared to this year’s snow. Of cause, everything is relative. It is nothing for many places, like Canada, but it is really rare in Shanghai.

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In Feb 2004, when it  snowed, I said:

Wow. Shanghai is Snowing

Hey, Hey, Shanghai is snowing…

Incrediable! Wowo. It is snowing in Shanghai!

I even explained to many friends that there IS snow in winter in Shanghai, although it snowed just once every two or three years.

Below are the photos I took the yesterday morning.

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The car – after cleaning the day before yesterday, it is covered by snow again.

Shanghai Snows Again

I cannot imagine Shanghai could ever have such heavy snow! I simply cannot believe this is Shanghai!

The following photos were taken this afternoon – I am sure now it is completely covered by snow. Do you know why it looks blur and not so clear? Because of the heavy snow this afternoon.

I do doubt whether airplane can take off.

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Snow of the last few days

These are the photos I took the other day.

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I even have a small piece of video:

On Flickr, I found jutech‘s good Shanghai roof in snow:

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Stock Market is the Same

For China stock, it is the same – sharp dump from 6000 points to 4300…

Feb 1 is a Big Day

I can comfortably say that I deserve a good sleep tonight – really good sleep, after the work for one year.

Winter Arrives

Shanghai enters winter these days. It is very cold and chilly outside. Visitors to Shanghai, please bring enough cloths with you. I feel frozen this morning.

Hotmail Problems

I am experiencing Hotmail connectivity problems these days. Anyone encountered the same thing?

Cold Winter Comes

Cold winter comes to Shanghai. The sky was clear, but really cold. It has been two or three weeks that Shanghai was cloudy. Today is the first day recently to see blue sky.

Branches of trees were cut, so they can preserve some energy for the winter. The green color disappeared leaf by leaf in my garden. The good thing I know is, I don’t have to worry about the grass for at least three months.

Welcome, winter 2005 to Shanghai.

Yes. It Snowed in Shanghai

My friends outside Shanghai didn’t believe it snowed in Shanghai. I can understand that, because the last time I clearly remember it snowed in Shanghai was in 1996. OK. Let me proof it.

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Goudaner covered by snow.

The picture was taken at 1:01 PM, Feb 19, 2005. It snowed at the night of Feb 18 and my car looked like this when I walked to my car in the afternoon. It took me quite some time to clear part of the window so I can drive the car to somewhere in the Sun. Very soon, it all melt so I can start my journey.

It is rarely snow in Shanghai. The year of 2005 is abnormal. It snowed many times – I guess more than 5 times already. The temperature varience is big. It was 0°C on Sunday and today, it is 11°C already (all according to the meter in my car).

Heavy Snow in Shanghai

It is very rare that Shanghai snowed so heavily this year – for the first time in the last 10 years. We entered the new year of 2005 in white.

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Snow in details at the corner of my garden

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Outside the garden, the ground are all white

It was icy on the road inside the residential area while the public roads are completely clear of snow already. People obviously don’t have any experience to deal with ice and snow. Traffic accidents happen everywhere. My Goudaner was completely covered by snow. The snow on the rear window, which is the deepest, reaches to 3 cm already. Both the rear and the front window were covered by snow and ice. It is not possible to remove it by hand since the ice has been very sticky to the glass. To avoid break the glass, I have to warm up the car very carefully and increase the temperature from inside. About 20 minutes later, the snow and ice began to melt so I can clear a small hole on the front. 10 minutes later, the whole front window is clear so I can start to drive. It is funny.

Happy New Year

The old Chinese saying is: “Snow indicate a fruitful new year.” I hope it will be. My heart goes out to the victoms of Tsunami in South East Asia. China (at least Shanghai, or my home) is not affected. Happy New Year to everyone!

Winter in Shanghai

Shanghai continue to cool down these days. The steps of winter are closer and closer each day. The current temperature in Xujiahui is 15°C.

Some readers will relocate to Shanghai within two months – at least there are 5 persons on my list to have the plan to migrate to Shanghai this November. I know it because most of the emails I got started with a sentence like “I am planning to move to Shanghai this November with my husband/wife/dog/family….” Let me talk a little bit about the weather of Shanghai Winter.

Shanghai Winter is Cold

Believe it or not, Shanghai’s winter is extremely cold. It is colder than Guangzhou (in south China) and it is even colder than Beijing (in north China).

I still remember the first winter I spent in Shanghai. It was 1995 and I was in SJTU Minhang Campus. There was no air-conditioner in my dorm.

Although the temperature very rarely drop to under freezing point (0°C), it feels colder than it actually is. The air is wet, cold and wet in winter. It feels lie standing in the ice water without any protection. The quilt is also wet and feels like a piece of ice. It takes quite some time to warm up the quilt.

Reasons

Lack of heating equipments is an important reason. Shanghai is the north most city that does not have heating equipments. In cities north of Shanghai, steam heaters are installed in every home and every office. In Beijing, which is 1000 km north of Shanghai, almost every room has heater installed. The central heat supply keeps the rooms warm, dorms, offices, homes, public areas, 24 hours a day. It is very cold outside, but very warm inside. People can wear T-shirt in their houses in winter.

In Shanghai, heating equipment is not a standard configuration for a room. Although most of the rooms have air-condition, it is not as effective as central heating system. It is much more expensive than central heating system. Not every house owner/business are rich enough to turn it on 24 hours a day.

Another reason is the wet air. Located near the sea, the air is wet in Shanghai and it rains often in winter. Wet air feels colder. In Beijing, the main reason for feeling cold is the heavy wind. When you enter a building that is free of heavy wind, it is much warmer. Shanghai is another story. Back to the times when I was living in a dorm, we kept the window during the night since it does not make much difference to keep it open or closed. The window didn’t keep any heat inside the room. So you get some idea of what the Shanghai winter looks like.

No only windows. Wearing more clothes seem does not work either. It is still cold no matter how much you wear – the wet air has its way to reach your body….

Foggy Shanghai

Heavy fog hit Shanghai this morning. Outside my window, it was all white. It is among the heaviest fog I have experienced in Shanghai. Visibility is less than 20 meters.

According to Sina Shanghai Channel, elevated highway, Hong Qiao Airport, shuttle ships on the Huang Pu river, and express ways were closed this morning.

Wow. Shanghai is Snowing

Hey, Hey, Shanghai is snowing…

Incrediable! Wowo. It is snowing in Shanghai!

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Photograph by Eric

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Photograph by Eric

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Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

In my memory, the last time it snowed is 1996. I was a Junior in Shanghai Jiaotong University. In the past 8 years, it didn’t snow. So you know why everybody rushed to the window side excitedly when we became aware of the snow outside. Yep. I hope it can snow longer and see the now covered Shanghai – I never saw such scene in Shanghai.

Snow Stopped

It stopped snowing at around 4:00 PM. In downtown (Xujiahui), I cannot see any place covered by snow yet.

Snowing Video 760 kb

More Observation of the Snow

The snow this noon is breaking news for people in Shanghai since it is so rare at the latitude of 31N. Bloggers are exicted about the snow and recorded it passionately.

  • Billy Qiu is one of them. His entry BRAVO! Snowing In Shanghai Today (Cool Pics + Video by Billy) contains fantastic pictures of the moment and one minute 10 seconds video clip. You must check out those pictures. It seems it snows more heavily in his area than in Xujiahui – maybe the point I took the picture is too high (23rd floor of Metro Tower)
  • Isaac‘s description is short but quick: Snow – Shanghai, heavy snow (Chinese site). :-D
  • phycat recorded her conversation with her hubby in Shanghai. (Chinese site)
  • qianzi said car accident happened at the entrance of the Yan An East Road Tunnel. (Chinese site)
  • sunadm reported the snow in Hangzhou. (Chinese site)

  • rainlee reported the snow in Suzhou. (Chinese site)

  • Shmily recorded the snow in Beijing yesterday. It is so normal for Beijing to snow, but not Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. (Chinese site)

This should be the first time for so many blogger to observe the same weather event from different cities. These reports draw a vivid picture of the snow, but they are much better than the weather forecast program….

Cold Shanghai

Shanghai is cold these days – it is actually freezon. Affected by the cold air rushing from north, Shanghai reaches the lowest temperature of this year – about -3 degrees C. It is a really rare whether in Shanghai. I cannot get used to that cold so far.

This reminds me of the first year I came to Shanghai. That is in 1995 and I just entered Shanghai Jiaotong University. It is located far away from the downtown Shanghai and is 2-3 degrees colder than in downtown. That was really a hard time for me.

Update Shanghai Snows in 2004 January 18, 2004

Wow. Shanghai is Snowing