Extremely strong cold air is sweeping through many large areas of Asia and Europe, causing rare extreme weather phenomena.
In the Russian Far East, this cold air wave is considered the most severe in 60 years. The Kamchatka Peninsula suffered heavy snowfall, with many areas recording snowfall of more than 2m in the first half of January alone, followed by snowfall of up to 3.7m in December last year. Meteorological stations said that the total amount of winter snow this year has far exceeded the multi-year average.
In the port city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, images of people walking on snowdrifts as high as traffic lights spread widely, reflecting the rare harshness of this cold spell.
Cold air continues to pour south, strongly affecting East Asia. In China, deep temperature drops have brought rare snowfall in many densely populated areas. Shanghai witnessed heavy snowfall for the first time since 2018, while just 1 week earlier, the temperature still maintained above 20 degrees Celsius.
The sudden weather reversal surprised many people. Many areas south of the Yangtze River and Hoai River, including provinces such as Jiangxi and Guizhou, recorded a temperature drop of 10-14 degrees Celsius in a short time.
In Japan, a cold air wave accompanied by strong winds and heavy snowfall has stalled aviation operations along the northwest coast. Dozens of flights have been canceled, affecting thousands of passengers, many of which are concentrated at major airports serving the winter tourist area.
In Vietnam, on the morning of January 23, 2026, cold air continued to affect places in the Northwest, North Central and most of the Central Central region, then affected some places in the South Central region.
In the Northern region and Thanh Hoa, it will be severely cold and harmful; the Northern mountainous region will be severely cold, especially Dien Bien and Lai Chau will be cold, with severe cold in some places.
Weather forecast from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting of Vietnam said that on January 24, the North will still maintain severe cold; the area from Nghe An to Hue City will be cold.
Lowest temperature: Northern region and Thanh Hoa commonly 10-13 degrees C, especially mountainous areas 8-11 degrees C, high mountainous areas in some places below 6 degrees C; the area from Nghe An to Hue City commonly 13-16 degrees C.
Hanoi weather: Severe cold, severe cold; January 24th will still be very cold. The lowest temperature is commonly 10-12 degrees Celsius.
10 years ago, on January 24-25, 2016, Northern Vietnam experienced the first super cold spell in 40 years before that. Temperatures dropped below 0 degrees Celsius, causing snowfall, frost and frost to appear widely in the northern mountainous and midland provinces, even in the mountainous areas of Ky Son (Nghe An) and Ba Vi (Hanoi) snowfall also appeared.
After 10 years, on January 22, 2026, the temperature at Mau Son peak dropped to 0 degrees Celsius, causing snow and ice to cover everything from tree branches, lawns to fences and paths.
