Shanghai meteorological bureau aims to sharply increase the accuracy of its within-10-day weather forecast, it said in a press statement yesterday.

The accuracy rate of weather forecasts and extreme weather alerts is expected to reach 85 and 88 percent, respectively, according to the bureau’s new five-year plan for weather services in Shanghai released on July 18.

“For the 10-day forecast in 2020, the accuracy rate of the first, second, and third days was almost 88.1 percent, 86.8 percent, and 85 percent,” said Zha Yafeng, deputy chief of the bureau’s observation and forecast office. “But when it comes to the ninth and tenth days, the rate drops to 69.1 percent and 62.4 percent due to the constraints of objective conditions. Our goal is to strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy of forecast.”

By 2025, Shanghai is expected to be the first in the country to establish a new smart weather system management model, according to the plan.

The city aims to increase the bureau’s observation ability by establishing a ubiquitous weather “skin.”

In Shanghai, there is an automatic weather station every five kilometers.

“We want to construct a weather perceiving system to more precisely and meticulously forecast and observe meteorological change,” Zha said. “More high-tech measures such as smart light poles, observation towers, various Internet vehicles and cameras will be adopted for weather observation. Just like skin that covers the body, the observing services will fully cover the city.”

In addition, weather alerts in the downtown area will be detailed to cover the districts, and alerts in the suburbs will offer detail for streets and towns.

The meteorological disaster risk warning will also cover key sections of the city, the smart weather service will cover grassroots communities and warning information will be released through more methods.

In the near future, residents will be able to check hourly forecasts and warning signals for the next 12 hours at any time, said Feng Lei, deputy head of the bureau. Moreover, the collection, fusion and application of data will support more accurate weather forecasts.