Shanghai is planning to release weather information by changing the color of lights on some landmark buildings, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.

Meteorological departments are working with some district governments including Xuhui and Baoshan to promote the weather warnings with lighting, Tang Xu, director of the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, told the newspaper.

Tang said they would make use of some skyscrapers such as the Grand Gateway in Xujiahui, Xuhui. Its rooftop lighting is bright and can be seen in the distance.

"The white lights can be changed into other colors matching the weather warning alerts such as blue, yellow, orange and red. Different colors indicate the weather will change,'' the director told the newspaper.

However, the plan is considered only as another way to provide weather forecasts to the public. Media reports, LED boards, SMS messages, the weather hotline and the Website www.soweather.com/pubweb/ will still be the primary ways for residents to get forecasts, the report said.

Tang added that the city meteorological departments were trying hard to have weather forecasts displayed on all 25,000 public LED boards throughout the city in the near future.

(Shanghai Daily July 3, 2008)