Northeast warms as big freeze sweeps southward

Historic lows forecast for many regions; cold wave expected to begin exit on Tuesday

People visit Tai Mo Shan peak in Hong Kong as temperatures fell to a record low on Sunday. PARKER ZHENG/CHINA DAILY

As extreme cold weather continues to move southward across China, bringing the lowest temperatures recorded in decades, northeastern parts of the country have already experienced some localized warming, the National Meteorological Center said on Sunday.

Temperatures rose by up to 10 degrees in some regions on Saturday, yet China's national observatory continued to renew its orange alert for the cold wave moving south.

In central and eastern China, the mercury is expected to dip by 6 to 8 C between Sunday and Monday, while temperatures could hit-12 C in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The cold wave, which brought with it sharp temperature drops of up to 16 C across the country from Thursday evening, is expected to exit southern China beginning on Tuesday, allowing temperatures to climb back up to around the monthly average.

Over the weekend, many parts of China were hit by heavy snowstorms and some regions experienced record low temperatures.

According to the local meteorological center, Beijing shivered through lows of-16 C on Saturday morning - close to the lowest recorded temperature in 30 years - before warming a little on Sunday afternoon.

In Shanghai, the lowest temperature in 35 years was recorded on Sunday morning with a low of-7.2 C, not experienced in the city since 1981.

A cold snap gripped Hong Kong on Sunday, with residents shivering as temperatures plunged to the lowest point in nearly 60 years and frost dusted the mountaintops of a city accustomed to a subtropical climate.

Morning temperatures dropped to 3.3 C in urban areas of the city.

"All my friends are sharing pictures of snow-covered scenes on social media," said Chen Xi, a Chongqing resident.

"I've seen just two snowfalls in Chongqing. One was in 1992 when I was a first grader, and the other one was this weekend".