China experiences extreme freezing event with record-breaking temperatures

Hannah Murdock
·1 min read
A cyclist rides through the steam leak of the water heating network in Dongcheng district during the morning rush hour in Beijing, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Temperatures has plunged across northern China, with a cold front moving eastward from Xinjiang in the west.
A cyclist rides through the steam leak of the water heating network in Dongcheng district during the morning rush hour in Beijing, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Temperatures has plunged across northern China, with a cold front moving eastward from Xinjiang in the west. | Andy Wong, Associated Press

A massive cold wave sweeping across northern and central China is breaking records and bringing snowstorms throughout the country.

Driving the news: A Beijing weather station recorded the most hours of sub-freezing temperatures in the month of December in over 70 years, the state-backed Beijing Daily reported.

As of Sunday, the capital had seen over 300 hours of sub-freezing temperatures since Dec. 11, according to The Associated Press.

The city also recorded nine consecutive days with temperatures below minus 10 degrees Celsius, or 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Zoom out: Seventy-eight weather stations across China have also recorded record-low temperatures, with northern and central China seeing the coldest average temperatures since 1961.

Related

Meanwhile, some areas in the northeast reached minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and below, Reuters reported.

What happens next? Temperatures are expected to rise this weekend as warm air is expected to flow from the country’s north to the south, per DW.