Located in the north in the eastern province of Heilongjiang and located near Russian Siberia, the village of Mohe is widely known as the “North Pole of China”. and is one of the few places in the country with a true subarctic climate.
According to the Heilongjiang Meteorological Bureau, the temperature at 7 am on January 22 — the first day of the Lunar New Year was minus 53°C. Thus, the previous record of 1969 was broken — minus 52.3°C.
The China Meteorological Administration was aware of a significant drop in temperature in some parts of the country and issued a special warning on Monday — Cold wave blue warning.
Meanwhile, nearby, in Yakutsk, Russia, considered the world's coldest city, temperatures dropped to minus 62.7°C. This is the coldest reading in more than two decades.
Winters in Mohe are long, starting in early October and often lasting until May.
In 2018, a rare “icy fog” — a weather phenomenon that occurs only in extremely cold climates, when water droplets in the air remain in liquid form, — enveloped everything around, which prompted the local authorities to issue the city's first “red weather warning” in the history.
No warnings have been issued in Mohe yet, but local meteorologists say the cold snap will continue for at least another week. And ice fog is very possible.
The constant cold all year round attracts tourists to the local ice attractions. In 2011, more than 10,000 tourists flocked to the city to watch the Northern Lights during the annual festival.
Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
In In 2018, China experienced its worst heat wave since 1961, leading to widespread power outages and even droughts in rivers. The extreme temperatures lasted for more than 70 days, and the effects were felt across vast areas of the country.
In the southwestern province of Sichuan, home to 80 million people, power outages shut down factories, homes and offices rolling blackouts occurred and thousands of poultry and fish on farms died.