2016年CRI Cold Weather to Continue into New Week

Temperatures in Beijing dropped to below minus-10 degrees Celsius 1 on Friday.

Forecasters are warning the temperatures are going to hit a 30-year low through this weekend.

Yu Bo is the chief forecaster with the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Center.

"The lows will fall to minus-17 degrees Celsius in the unsheltered parts of Beijing through this Saturday. The temperatures are the coldest recorded in January in Beijing over the past thirty years."

Forecasters are warning temperatures in the mountainous areas surrounding Beijing-proper may dip as low as minus-23, as strong gales 2 are going to continue through the weekend.

Record-breaking cold has been gripping around 90-percent of China the past few days.

The community of Genhe in the northern reaches of Inner Mongolia recorded temperatures of 47.8 degrees below zero, nearing the historical low of minus 49.6 degrees.

Shanghai is also being gripped by the coldest temperatures that city has seen in some 3-decades.

Temperatures in suburban 3 areas of Shanghai are expected to dip as low as minus-10 on Sunday and Monday.

Even tropical island of Hainan is feeling the effects of the current cold snap, with temperatures some 13-degrees below normal this Saturday.

Zhang Tao, chief forecaster with the National Meteorological Center, says a strong polar vortex is the reason China is being gripped by unusually cold temperatures.

"The polar vortex is heading southward, which is the direct cause of this cold spell throughout greater China. To the west of the vortex is a northward 4 subtropical high, which collided with the polar vortex. It's now settled in Siberia, which is leading ot the extreme weather."

Many highways across China have been closed, and airport traffic disrupted.

In the eastern province of Jiangxi, temperatures are the coldest they've been in close to 25-years.

This has led to an overload 5 of the power grids 7, leaving around 150-thousand households without power in the cities of Nanchang and Jiujiang.

Around 3-thousand workers are out trying to repair the grid 6.

Temperatures in Jiangxi are expected to remain low until at least Tuesday.

In neighboring Zhejiang, local authorities have given temporary shelter to around 13-thousand people.

They've also distributed over 40-thousand quilts and 7-thousand cotton overcoats, as temperatures in parts of the province are down to minus 11 degrees Celsius this Saturday.

Sun Jun with the National Meteorological Center says relief should be coming to China mid-week.

"The cold spell will be relatively 8 short-lived, affecting northern China until this Saturday. The polar vortex will then shift south through Sunday and Monday. After that, the temperatures will gradually start to go up in most parts of central and eastern China."

At the same time, forecasters say the current weather system is unlikely to bring the same winter storms which battered 9 much of China in 2008.

Large tracts 10 of southern and central China were hammered by unusual storms 8-years ago, which was the worst in around half-a-century.

Heavy snow, ice and cold temperatures caused extensive damage throughout the region back then, disrupting transportation for thousands during that year's Spring Festival travel season.

For CRI, this is Luo Wen.