Get your masks on – air pollution will increase as the temperature starts to drop tomorrow until next week Wednesday.

On the bright side, environment authorities stated yesterday that Shanghai is working towards providing five-day smog forecasts so that residents are warned earlier about air pollution and can prepare for the hazier days.

Currently, air quality indexes show major harmful pollutants 48 hours in advance, while a 7-day weather forecast is also provided by the meteorological bureau.

"Shanghai's 48-hour smog forecast has been generally accurate, but longer forecasts need more technical research and experimentation. Hopefully a five-day forecast can be put into use within this year, especially when Shanghai encounters continuous air pollution," Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau mentioned to peer legislators.

This year already, we've seen Beijing state they're adding in funding for healthier air quality, a new crew of smog police and even factories getting reprimanded. We can only hope this push air pollution awareness continues.

Since the weekend, the air quality has been good so far, but as the cold weather creeps in, expect an increase in hazier days...

[Image via gettyimages]