China's capital Beijing has broken its record for hours of sub-zero temperatures in December dating back to 1951, after a cold wave swept swathes of the country and brought blizzards in its wake, sending temperatures towards historic lows.
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Credit: AP |
Northern and northeastern parts of the country have experienced a record-breaking chill since last week, with some areas in the northeast hitting minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) and below as biting cold air flowed down from the Arctic.
As of Sunday, a weather observatory in Beijing had recorded more than 300 hours of below-freezing temperatures since Dec. 11, the most for the month since records began in 1951, according to state-backed Beijing Daily. The capital has also endured nine consecutive days of temperatures below minus 10 C (14 F) in this period, the Beijing Daily added.
According to the Beijing Meteorological Station, such frigid conditions have not been seen since 1966, when the city's temperature plummeted to 27.4 degrees below zero.
"The wind feels like knives," said Beijing resident Zhou Ruoqi, who moved to the capital for work four months ago. She told Sixth Tone that she has been wearing up to eight articles of clothing to insulate herself from the cold.
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A man swims in a partly frozen lake in Beijing on December 23, 2023.Image Credit: AFP |
The chilly weather has also impacted the demand for on-demand app-based services, such as food delivery and car hailing. Zhou said that she plans to stock up on groceries, as ordering food online has become difficult. "I ordered some food on Wednesday night at 7, and it got delivered to me at 1 in the morning," Zhou said. "A staff member at the supermarket said they were flooded with orders because of the weather.
The cold spell has also led to a rise in demand for electricity, especially for heating purposes. As an emergency measure to ensure that households and businesses stay warm, Beijing has fired up its only remaining coal power plant for the first time since 2017.
Several cities in the central Chinese province of Henan, southwest of Beijing, are in the grip of a winter heating supply crunch, with thermal power suppliers in the city of Jiaozuo under pressure to ensure supplies.
The National Meteorological Center on Tuesday issued alerts as most parts of northern and southern China forecast drops of around 10 degrees Celsius. The frigid weather is expected to last until the end of the month, with some regions seeing snowfall and strong winds.
The cold wave has also affected other countries in Asia, such as Japan, South Korea, and Mongolia, where temperatures have dropped to record lows and snowstorms have caused disruptions.