Snow to fall in Sa Pa as cold front moves into northern Vietnam

Currently a cold snap is entering the northern region, prolonging and strengthening the current biting weather there, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said Monday.

From this afternoon or evening, the cold front will cover the region and then move south to affect central Vietnam, the center said.

As a result, low temperatures in the northern region will drop to 9-12 degrees, and even to 6-8 degrees in mountainous areas.

Particularly, Sa Pa District in Lao Cai province will suffer the coldest weather, at only 0-3 degrees.

The district along with other high-altitude areas may see snow falling in a few days to come, when the temperatures fall to 0 degree or lower, the center said.

In late December 2013, it snowed in Sa Pa for several days when temperatures dropped to 0 degrees.

Today, December 15, the high and low temperatures in Sa Pa are forecast to be 13 degrees and four degrees, which will drop to 4 degrees and minus 2 degrees on Tuesday, and to 4 degrees and minus 3 degrees on Wednesday, respectively.

Starting Thursday the chill in Sa Pa will begin to weaken.

Temperatures in Hanoi are ranging between 16 and 23 degrees, which will fall to 8 to 19 degrees on Tuesday.

From today, central provinces will experience rainy, cold weather, with the lowest temperatures in Thua Thien-Hue province falling to 15-17 degrees and those in Nghe An dropping to 13-14 degrees.

Due to the cold air, from early Tuesday morning north-central provinces will have scattered rain, while the coastal central and south central areas will experience medium to heavy rains, together with thunderstorms.

From this evening, the Gulf of Tonkin will experience rough seas and winds of 39-61 kph and gusts of up to 88 kph.

The north area of the East Sea, including Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, will have the same strong winds and rough seas.

Partly affected by the cold snap, southern Vietnam will from today experience cooler weather at nights and early in the morning during the week, with low temperatures of 20-22 degrees in southeastern and southern western areas and 22-24 degrees in Ho Chi Minh City.