Northern Vietnam's cold wave to persist until Christmas

An additional mass of cold air arriving Tuesday morning will further plunge northern Vietnam into the cold until Christmas, with average daytime temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures in the north increased slightly on Monday, the second day the region was impacted by a strong cold front. Only eight localities saw temperatures below 10 degrees on Monday, compared to 10 localities on Sunday. The coldest place was Lao Cai Provinces border town of Sa Pa at 5 degrees, followed by Lang Son’s Mau Son at 7 degrees, then Ha Giang’s Dong Van and Bac Kan’s Ngan Son at 8 degrees.

In Hanoi, weather stations recorded temperatures of 12-13 degrees, 1-2 degrees higher than Sunday morning.

But as another mass of cold air continues to move in, temperatures are slated to drop again, first in northern Vietnam before central Vietnam, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Northern Vietnam, along with the north-central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, will experience a "severe" cold wave until Christmas, according to experts forecasting temperatures at night and in the morning of 9-12 degrees.

Mountainous areas are expected to experience extreme temperatures of 3-8 degrees.

However, central Vietnam localities from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue will likely see temperatures at 14-17 degrees at the lowest.

Frost may appear in the midlands and mountains of the north. Starting Tuesday night, localities from Ha Tinh to Khanh Hoa will see rain levels of up to 100 mm over the following 24 hours.

U.S. weather forecast service AccuWeather recorded Hanoi’s temperatures at 14-18 degrees on Monday, anticipated them to drop to 13-16 degrees on Tuesday. In the days after, daytime temperatures would stay below 20 degrees, while temperatures at night are expected to hover around 10-11 degrees. On Christmas’s Eve, the capital’s temperatures are forecast to drop to 9 degrees, with daytime temperatures at 14 degrees.

High-altitude locations like Sa Pa will see temperatures dropping to 4-10 degrees on Wednesday, with the days after recording daytime temperatures of 8 degrees and nighttime temperatures of 3 degrees, the U.S. site said.