SHANGHAI: In December, Shanghai, China’s financial hub, was bracing for its coldest spell in forty years, prompting authorities to issue warnings about the biting cold and gusty winds.
As northern cities grappled with icy conditions expected to relent only next week, Shanghai’s Meteorological Bureau forecasted Thursday’s temperatures to plummet between minus 4 to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 to 24 degrees Fahrenheit) in the city’s outskirts, with the mercury staying below zero all day across the urban landscape. Wang Kaiyun, 59, who commutes from the suburbs to downtown Shanghai on her electric scooter as a cleaner, experienced a bone-chilling ride in the minus 5 C temperatures on Thursday.
“Even though I was wearing gloves, I quickly lost feeling in my hands and they are still painful now,” Wang said.
Shanghai is experiencing an uncommonly chilly spell, a departure from its usual milder climate compared to northern China, where temperatures have hit record lows. The city’s weather bureau predicts sub-zero temperatures for five consecutive days, a rare occurrence in December not witnessed in four decades.
The Siberian cold front sweeping across the country has shattered December records in northern provinces, with temperatures plunging as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. While the snowfall has been moderate, the intense cold and icy conditions have disrupted transportation and raised concerns for the safety of delivery drivers. Rescue efforts in the northwest have been hindered by the bitter weather, which even encased firefighters’ gear in ice during a rescue operation. Though the frigid conditions are expected to ease soon, the impact on daily life and businesses, including the online food delivery sector, has been significant, prompting calls for consideration of the challenges faced by delivery workers.
