Beijing At -19.6 Degrees Celsius Records Coldest Morning In Over Five Decades
The mercury dipped to minus 19.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning as a strong cold wave swept through the city of Beijing.?
It marked the coldest morning in the Chinese capital since 1966.?
Cold wave grips Japan
Early on Thursday morning, half of Beijing's 20 national-level meteorological stations registered their lowest ever early-January temperatures, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting Lei Lei, chief forecaster of the Beijing municipal meteorological station.?
The cold wave gripped Beijing since Wednesday, bringing drastic temperature drops and strong winds.As of Thursday morning, the city¡¯s weather authorities have maintained blue alerts for continuous low temperature and heavy winds, the lowest level in China¡¯s four-tier colour-coded warning system.?
Public warned, urged to take precautions
The authorities have also advised the public to take precautions against the cold weather.The cold wave is forecast to continue in Beijing until Friday, with the daily maximum temperature remaining below zero, Lei said, adding that the temperature is expected to climb on Saturday, with the daily maximum temperature rising above 1 degree Celsius.
Many locations across northern Japan during the last week of 2020 recorded low temperatures, with Horokanai bottoming out at a bone-chilling -32.6¡ãC and many nearby regions seeing temperatures around -30¡ãC.?
Snowiest place on Earth
Sukayu Onsen, located in the city of Aomori, is the snowiest inhabited place on Earth and has an average yearly snowfall of 17.6 m.This part of the world sees such significant amounts of snowfall because Siberian air rushes over the Sea of Japan and abruptly runs into the Japanese Alps, which contain 22 peaks over 3,000 m.?
The combination of the mountainous geography and atmospheric conditions recently resulted in over 200 cm of snow accumulating in Minakami during a 72 hour period, with seasonal totals surpassing 3,000 cm.?
Many ski resorts in Japan are considered to be some of the best destinations on the planet because of the snow¡¯s quality and staggering accumulations. For instance, Hakuba hosted the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and has an annual snowfall rate of 10-11 m. Due to the alpine location, Habuka¡¯s snow season ranges from November to May since temperatures range from -7¡ãC to -2¡ãC near sea level and -7¡ãC to -14¡ãC at the highest elevations.
