Mountain commune in Lao Cai blanketed in rare snow
Snow fell in the mountain commune of Y Ty in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on early January 11, covering the area under a 15-cm thick layer of snow.
Bat Xat district's Y Ty commune covered with snow (Photo: VNA)
Lao Cai, (VNA) – Snow fell in the mountaincommune of Y Ty in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on earlyJanuary 11, covering the area under a 15-cm thick layer of snow.
Snow is a rare phenomenon in tropical Vietnam, and is onlyseen in the northern mountainous region during winter. As such, it has alwaysdrawn many curious visitors, who are often dubbed “snow hunter”. However, theweather is causing trouble for agriculture and transport.
Tourists enjoy the rare snowfall in Y Ty (Photo: VNA)
According to the Lao Cai hydro-meteorological station, the coldspell will cause light rain in some places across the province during the day,which will make the temperatures drop even further. More snow will fall in Y Tyand Hoang Lien Son mountain range, with the centre of Sa Pa resort town soonexperiencing snowfalls.
In recent days, the temperatures in Lao Cai and its mountainousareas, like Sa Pa and Bat Xat, have always been between 1-3 degrees Celsius,causing thick frost. From January 10 to 8 am on January 11, the temperature in SaPa and Y Ty plunged to minus 1 degrees Celsius.
The cold spell also affected other northern provinces,causing hundreds of schools to close and hundreds of thousands of students tostay home due to freezing temperature./.
A new strong cold spell will begin affecting the northern and central regions from January 7-12, with snow and frost forecat to appear in northern mountainous provinces, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
As temperature at the top of Phia Oac mountain in Thanh Cong commune, Nguyen Binh district, the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang dropped down to -9 degrees Celsius on the morning of January 8, tree branches and ground were covered with ice.
Hundreds of schools in the northern region have allowed students to stay at home amid the freezing cold weather when a new strong cold spell has pushed temperature down to below 10 degree C and even under 0 degree C.
Vietnam is completely located in the tropical belt of the Northern Hemisphere, favoring a tropical climate with annual average temperature is from 22ºC to 27ºC. However, in recent days, Vietnam’s northern region has been facing an extreme cold snap caused by the arrival of a cold front which pushed temperature down to below 10ºC and even under 0ºC, bringing chances of frost to mountainous areas.
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Tourists enjoy the rare snowfall in Y Ty (Photo: VNA) 
Tourists enjoy the rare snowfall in Y Ty (Photo: VNA) 
