SHANGHAI’S Meteorological Bureau issued a blue alert for Typhoon Mitag at 6:30pm last night, expecting gales across most of the city this afternoon and tonight.

Mitag was likely to influence the city from last night with increasing winds, and pass by Taiwan during the night, forecasters said.

According to the National Meteorological Center, its center was about 160 kilometers southeast of Taipei by 7pm last night.

Packing maximum winds of 137 kilometers per hour, it continued to move in a north-westerly direction at a speed of 25 kilometers an hour and gaining strength. The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau expected that Mitag will make landfall or pass by Zhejiang’s Yuhuan to Zhoushan areas tonight.

By dawn tomorrow, it will weaken to a severe tropical storm and pass areas at the same latitude as Shanghai.

Compared with previous typhoons Lingling, Tapha and Danas, the location of Mitag will be much closer to Shanghai.

Between today and tomorrow, there will be heavy rains of 50 to 80 millimeters in Shanghai, and some areas will see torrential rains of 100 to 150 millimeters. Most of the downpours will drench the city from this afternoon to evening, with hourly precipitation of 20 to 40 millimeters.

Residents are warned to keep away from bodies of water like beaches or rivers to prevent the impact brought by the combination of gale, storm and tide.

Starting tomorrow, it will be mostly dry and cloudy with milder temperatures, despite some coolness brought by a cold front at the weekend.

Today, the high will fall to 26 degrees Celsius, but will bounce back to between 28 and 30 degrees between tomorrow and Friday. It will drop again on Saturday.