This year's plum rain season will arrive later than previously predicted.

Cloudy weather will sit over the city for the next few days, and the plum rain season will not arrive before Friday, weathermen said yesterday.

Maximum temperatures will not exceed 32 degrees Celsius this week and the sunshine will not be strong.

However, the muggy weather may make people feel uncomfortable because of the high humidity.

The week's lows will be around 22 degrees, said the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

A thunderstorm is expected over the weekend, but it's hard to predict whether the plum rain season will start then, forecasters said.

The city's rainy season was initially predicted to begin yesterday.

Forecasters said this year's rainfall during the season, which will last for about 20 days, will be less than the annual average, which is about 244 millimeters.

(Shanghai Daily June 16, 2009)