
China's meteorological authority on Tuesday renewed an orange alert, the second highest in a four-tier warning system, for a cold wave as a strong cold front has been sweeping across most parts of central and east China from Monday.
"The forecast for Beijing is even colder than the North Pole," a netizen on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo said early on Wednesday, posting screenshots of weather-tracking apps which read -13 C in Beijing and -3 C at the North Pole.
As a cold air mass swept across northern China and Beijing since Tuesday, temperatures plunged from an average daily high of 2 C to maximum highs of -6 C and lows of -13 C, some of the coldest December days in a decade. As high winds accompanied the cold snap, with gusts of between 30-50 kilometers an hour, the wind chill has seen real feel temperatures of -22 C, with residents scurrying to get inside as they hold onto their hats.
Comment: 24 hours earlier on Christmas Day: Hamburg in Western New York hit with 18 inches of snow in roughly 24 hours, several places over 10 inches