Weather is a key factor for tourists, influencing their decision on places they'd like to visit.

To provide better weather information services for tourists around the Yangtze River Delta region, this year the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau is set to build a regional tourism weather service center, said Feng Lei, the deputy head of the bureau.

According to Feng, the Yangtze River Delta has rich resources for travel, but it largely depends on the weather. Their preliminary idea is to provide meteorological travel advice all day long, and the service can make sure that there will always be some sites for travelers to visit under different weather conditions, except for the extreme and dangerous conditions.

"For example, some local attractions will have a special charm under gloomy and wet weather, and it's nice to wander around the 'sea of clouds' on Mount Huangshan when there is fog," said Feng. "Shutterbugs sometimes would like to take a bird's-eye picture of the city from the top of Shanghai Tower in foggy weather, when it looks quite special."

If the weather is really bad and not suitable for outings, the bureau will recommend indoor ones like museums and indoor shows.

Combining the weather education resources of the region, they will also design some meteorological tour routes with related departments and organizations.

Ahead of last year's inaugural China International Import Expo, which the east China metropolis hosted, the bureau launched a Yangtze River Delta integrated service platform with regional environmental and meteorological information. Cooperating with weather authorities in the region's other provinces – Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui – the platform monitors the whole region's weather conditions and collects statistics for analysis. 

One of the platform's functions is pollution observation and evaluation, with information of the source and transmission route of the pollutants available. That can help local authorities to make customized plans for pollution prevention.

In the future, the bureau will expand the platform's coverage to more meteorological fields and use more high-tech means to give detailed data.

(Cover image: Shanghai in fog. /VCG Photo)