Short cold spell to hit northern Vietnam starting Wednesday

Northern Vietnam has been enjoying sunny days for the past week, with temperatures in Hanoi at around 26 degrees in the afternoon on Monday, before falling to 19 degrees at night. High-altitude locations like Lao Cai’s Sa Pa have been seeing temperatures at 19 degrees.

Starting Wednesday morning, a new mass of cold air will come to northern Vietnam, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meteorologists said the cold wave would not last long this time, and temperatures in the north would not be as low as what were seen in previous cold waves. The lowest temperatures in the north, as well as Thanh Hoa and Nghe An in the north central region, will be around 15-18 degrees, with mountainous regions seeing temperatures at 8-14 degrees.

Temperatures will rise again starting Friday.

U.S. weather forecast service AccuWeather said Hanoi will see temperatures dropping to 16-19 degrees on Wednesday, before daytime temperatures rise to 22 degrees on Saturday. Sa Pa will see temperatures between 9-14 degrees during weekdays, while temperatures will drop to 6-11 degrees on the weekends.

Localities from Binh Dinh to Binh Thuan in the south central region will see daytime temperatures at 29-32 degrees. Due to the effects of cold air, there will be rains in certain central Vietnam areas on Wednesday and Thursday.

Southern Vietnam and Central Highlands regions will see a little rain on the first few days of 2024, with the highest daytime temperatures at 32-34 degrees.

Two cold waves in December plunged temperatures to as low as minus 2.5 degrees in Lang Son’s Mau Son peak on Dec. 22, the lowest temperature recorded within the month since a weather station was operational in Mau Son since 2012.