Wet weather ahead with the first sight of cherry blossoms in city

Shanghai experienced a mix of sun and cloud on Monday, the first day of the new school semester.

The city's benchmark, Xujiahui Weather Station, recorded Monday's temperature ranging between 5.3 and 10.7 degrees Celsius as a cold front arrived.

More rainfall is on the way this week. From Wednesday to Sunday, the city is forecast to have overcast skies and intermittent drizzles, particularly on Thursday. Temperatures are forecast to fluctuate between 3 and 10 degrees.

This year's second solar term in the Chinese traditional calendar, yushui, or rain water, falls on Tuesday. It indicates the weather will get warmer and bring more precipitation in most areas of the country.

Meanwhile, a pink scenery is about to be presented in the city as cherry blossoms enter the flowering period.

The Chenshan Botanic Garden in suburban Songjiang District, one of the best-known appreciation spots of the flower in Shanghai, has witnessed the flowering of a few prunus kanzakura cherry blossoms, which is an early blooming variety of the flower.

The year 2025 has seen the latest initial blooming of the variety since the flower's introduction in the winter of 2018, mainly because of the continuous dry weather in January and the sustained low temperatures in February, the garden said.

It boasts a 1.5-kilometer avenue of cherry blossom trees that looks like a pink tunnel, and it is expected to enter its best viewing period in late February.

The kawazu-zakura blossom features large, bright, pink petals, making it one of the favorites of locals. The best temperature for its flowering is around 10 degrees Celsius.

The kawazu-zakura is currently at the stage where its bud scales just split. If there is no sunny weather with a maximum temperature exceeding 20 degrees in late February, it is expected to flower on a large scale in March, unfolding the spring scenery, according to the garden.