China sees record-low temperatures, cold wave freezes majority of its regions

Beijing [China], December 18 : China has been witnessing severe cold fronts, sending temperatures plunging below freezing and breaking historic extreme low records in the majority of Chinese regions, causing officials to warn relevant authorities to strengthen patrol inspections of subways, overpasses, underpasses, and roads prone to freezing and accidents to effectively prevent accidents, Global Times reported.
The National Commission for Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief issued a notice on Sunday, urging authorities to deploy preventive arrangements to deal with possible extreme situations.
Meanwhile, experts reminded the public to take preventive measures to protect themselves as well as livestock, as some places recorded temperatures below -40 degrees Celcius.
Reportedly, the last weekend was the coldest in the latter part of the year for a vast area of the country, with 23 provincial capital cities seeing record-low temperatures since November, according to Global Times.
Moreover, the temperature difference between the highs and lows recorded at meteorological stations across China reached 76 degrees Celcius on Saturday, with the highest temperature of 31.8 C recorded in Baoting in South China's Hainan Province and the lowest of -44.2 C recorded in Tulihe township of Yakeshi city in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Additionally, a total of 30 national-level meteorological stations in multiple provinces and cities such as Hebei, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin and Liaoning, recorded historic extreme low temperatures for December on Sunday morning, with five stations in Shanxi, Hebei and Liaoning seeing new records since their establishment.
China's capital, Beijing, also recorded the coldest day of the winter season on Sunday, as the temperature was -15.5 °C, as reported by Global Times.
Notably, it was the third lowest temperature for the period since 1951, when China started collecting complete and continuous meteorological observation data.
Moreover, over the past few days, snowfalls have swept through the Taklimakan Desert, China's largest desert, in the Tarim Basin in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, covering the dunes under a "white coat."
As many as 102 people suffered fractures after a subway train along the Changping Line in Beijing on Thursday collided with the rear of a preceding train that had made an emergency stop, resulting in a separation of carriages, according to the preliminary investigation into the accident, Global Times reported.
Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said that these cold waves have caused a vast area of snowfall, which will have a huge impact on the buildings, traffic and other infrastructure facilities that may affect the normal production and life orders in cities.
Besides this, the snow can reflect sunlight and further slow warming during the day, he added.
Especially in areas with extremely cold weather, such as Inner Mongolia and Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where temperatures below -40 C have been recorded, great caution should be taken to keep people and livestock warm and prevent damage from freezing, Ma told notified.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, who is also director of the National Commission for Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief, has required related departments to hold "red-line thinking" and "extreme thinking" to address possible extreme situations, the Global Times reported.
In a notification on Sunday, the commission emphasised that departments should establish complete emergency command systems to combat extreme weather and strengthen monitoring, warning, and analysis of weather patterns.
The commission stressed that there is an emergency dispatching mechanism for various energy sources to complement each other and carry out cross-provincial and cross-regional energy dispatching to ensure a steady and orderly supply and demand of energy across the country.
Moreover, China's National Meteorological Centre (NMC) stated that while the impact of this round of cold fronts has concluded, a new wave is predicted to sweep from the north towards the south from Monday to Wednesday and will affect the middle and eastern parts of the country, keeping the temperatures in the majority of the country at low levels next week.
According to Global Times, it is expected that the lowest temperatures in Beijing will remain below -14 C through Thursday and that temperatures will remain below freezing throughout the following two weeks.
Additionally, besides snowstorms, the NMC has also forecast rainfall in multiple places, including the northern part of the Xinjiang region, the Jianghuai and Jiangnan regions and southern China.