Temperatures in Northern China Expected to Plunge by 20°C After Unusually Hot October
Beijing, China – After experiencing the second-hottest October in decades, residents of northern China are bracing themselves for a significant drop in temperatures. The China Meteorological Administration has predicted that temperatures in the region could plummet by 20°C for two days before returning to above-normal levels.
The sudden shift in weather patterns has been attributed to a new cold air mass forming in the northwest, which is expected to affect Northern China on November 4th. Combined with the cold air mass that appeared on November 2nd, the region is in for a rapid cooling.
Inner Mongolia has already issued a cold wave warning. Areas in the northern region, including deserts and grasslands, may experience a drop of 10°C for two consecutive days on November 3rd and 4th. Additionally, Xinjiang, known for its arid climate, may see snowstorms.
The China Meteorological Administration has also warned that the cold air mass will drift to the southeast, causing temperatures in the Northeast to drop to single digits or even close to zero. While low temperatures in early November are not uncommon for the region, the recent record-breaking high temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius at the end of October have made this drastic cooling all the more unusual.
Climatic extremes have become more frequent in China in recent years, resulting in damage to urban infrastructure and farmland, causing significant economic losses. This summer, inland areas experienced historic rainfall due to typhoons, leading to severe flooding in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Haihe River Basin. The region hadn’t witnessed such flooding since 1963.
Earlier this year, northern China saw an unprecedented heatwave, with the northernmost city, Mohe, experiencing a record low temperature of minus 53°C shortly after a cold January. Mohe, located in Heilongjiang Province, holds the distinction of being the city with the highest latitude and lowest temperature in China, with an average annual temperature of -3.8℃.
Jia Xiaolong, the deputy director of China’s National Climate Center, recently held a press conference on November 3rd, stating that this year’s winter is expected to be milder due to the presence of El Niño. El Niño is a natural weather pattern associated with warming ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific. It occurs every two to seven years and lasts between nine to twelve months.
As the residents of Northern China prepare for the sudden cold snap, they hope that the extreme weather events will soon return to more stable patterns, providing relief for the affected regions.
Editor in charge: Gao Jing