The weather of 2009 in Shanghai is extremely unusual!
We had the coolest yet wettest summer after the solar eclipse. And then we had the shortest and warmest autumn, always above 20 degrees. Now we are having the earliest cold winter right in town.
It was still 20 degrees last Monday and now we got only 5-6 degrees. We skipped the whole 10s! This is dramatic!
We usually had this cold weather (5 degrees) late December in the past few years in Shanghai. And I think I saw a little bit snow this morning!
My friends, Li Lei came to Shanghai from Helongjiang Province which is the northest province in China this week. And he was complaining all the time:’ Shanghai is cold. Very cold. Much colder than Helongjiang!’
What?! That can’t be true, can it? It is like comparing Beijing to Bangkok! Shanghai is always regarded as a southern city in China!
But everyone from north China will tell you the same: Shanghai is colder than any city in North China in winter! Why?
Because we don’t have central heating system in Shanghai!
Households in northern Chinese cities have public systems for heating, with their radiators typically fed by central coal-fired boilers that are turned on and off by local authorities at fixed dates.
However, in southern China including Shanghai, families mostly rely on air-conditioners, electrical heater etc to survive in the freezing winter. But those individual stand alone heating equipments can not heat up the whole house. It only works for a very small area.
So if you live in northern China, at least you are warm and can wear shirts at home. But in southern China, we have to be fully dressed because it is cold everywhere including inside the houses.
Some of my friends installed the under floor heating system in their house to battle with the cold. But it is extremely expensive. The monthly gas bill is about 2000RMB for a 130sqm flat.
So I am still struggling on what to get to keep myself warm this winter!
Tags: Shanghai Weather
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