Gripping cold weather swept across major sections of China on Thursday while many areas in the south will see sharp drops in temperatures over the next few days, Chinese weather forecasters predicted.
The cold snap is widespread - moving from northern China where several provinces have already been hit with blizzards to central and southern areas like Guizhou province - and pushing deep into the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Delta area.
"This cold wave is powerful, later this week it will be a big move south," said meteorological analyst Wang Weiyue, according to CCTV state media.
Northerly winds have drifted into many parts of China and temperatures will drop, national weather forecasters predicted, with some northeastern cities such as Shenyang and Harbin clocking readings as low as minus 26 to 27 degrees Celsius (minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit) until Dec. 18, in what would be their lowest readings so far this year, according to the national broadcaster CCTV.
Weather charts and maps across social media revealed how rapidly the weather is deteriorating even in the south, with temperatures across swathes of southern provinces falling by more than 14°C or even 20°C.
"Finally know what it means to freeze purple," wrote a netizen on Weibo, a social media app, referring to the colour codes of the coldest areas in the country.
For a second-straight day several areas have seen record low temperatures. Parts of Inner Mongolia region, Shaanxi, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces witnessed temperature drops of more than 20°C accompanied by forceful wind gusts, China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) reported.
Gale warnings were also issued in Xinjiang, western Tibet, Ningxia region, Qinghai province and parts of Inner Mongolia, according to weather forecasters.
Snow and ice forced the closure of 194 roads, incuding 126 highways across several provinces, CCTV reported citing the Ministry of Transportaton. Freezing rain and hail was also reported in Henan province, with heavy snowfall expected, according to media.
The cold forced governments to continue to shut schools. Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, asked parents to implement home-schooling for kindergarten, primary and junior high schools children. The city also suspended several outbound train lines.
The brutal temperature drop hit a junior high school in Luonan County, Shaanxi province, where parents complained that lack of heating in classrooms and dormitories caused children to get frost bite on their hands and feet, with one social media netizen posting a picture of a child's bruises.
