Beijing is enjoying its longest and warmest autumn in the past five years; it would have been early winter this time in former years.

"As of Oct. 31, Beijing's autumn has lasted 49 days," said Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Station.

According to statistics, Beijing's autumn only covered an average of 39 days from 2000 to 2004, with the shortest of 30 days in 2000 and the longest of 46 in 2003.

In 2003, Beijing went into winter after Nov. 3, while this year, "Beijing may not go into winter even after Nov. 3 given the present weather forecasts and trends," Guo said.

"In other words, the 2005 autumn of Beijing is expected to surpass 50 days," he said.

Generally speaking, five consecutive days with an average temperature of below 10 Celsius degrees may signal the end of autumn, according to meteorology.

"However, the average temperature in autumn this year has lingered between 22 and 10 degrees," Guo said.

Statistics show that the average temperature in October of this year was 2.2 degrees higher than the same period of previous years.

"Although cold front has visited Beijing every five days on average, it has not caused a dramatic drop of temperature due to its weak force," Guo said. "It is indeed abnormal to have such a long and warm autumn."

"On the other hand, a warm autumn does not necessarily mean there will be a warm winter in Beijing this year," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2005)