BEIJING: Beijing officially entered winter on Nov 2, two days later than the 1991-2020 average, while northern Hebei province completed its transition into winter on Nov 8, close to the seasonal norm, meteorological authorities said on Tuesday.
The meteorological onset of winter is determined according to China’s national standard for climatic season division, which uses a five-day running average of daily temperatures. The standard confirms that cold weather has settled in before retrospectively determining the date winter began.
In Beijing, the five-day running average temperature first fell below 10 C on Wednesday and remained below the threshold for five consecutive days through Sunday. The first daily average temperature below 10 C in the corresponding nine-day period was recorded on Nov 2, at 9.2 C, establishing the date of winter’s onset, according to meteorological data.
By Sunday, Zhangjiakou and Chengde in northern Hebei had entirely entered winter. Winter had also arrived in the Taihang Mountains, parts of Baoding and northern areas of Tangshan and Qinhuangdao, according to observations.
“Most of northern China has now officially entered winter,” said Wang Yu, an engineer with the National Climate Center.
Compared with the climatological average, winter arrived slightly earlier in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, while most other northern regions experienced a later-than-usual onset, Wang said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
