The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just issued a warning about a violent arctic cold air mass covering many areas in the US, causing a region to be heavily affected with an ice cover of up to 95%.
According to NOAA, consecutive Arctic cold spells in January have pushed temperatures in some states to the lowest level in many years. For the first time in 7 years, many places recorded record cold levels. Even some areas experienced the coldest winter in more than a decade.
The cause was identified as the sudden collapse of the stratosphere, disrupting the polar vortex, creating conditions for cold air mass from the Arctic to spill down to lower latitudes.
NOAA said that such deep cold spells are not unprecedented - history has recorded severe cold spells since 1899 - but the recent frequency and severity are of particular interest to many experts.
NOAA data shows that February was the peak of snowstorms in the Northeastern United States, mostly reaching level 3 or higher. Cold air waves in January have caused the Atlantic to cool down faster than usual, increasing the risk of more snowfall conditions in the near future.
The most notable is the Five Great Lakes area. According to the Five Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory under NOAA, the level of freezing here has skyrocketed in just a few days, from 5% to 51%. Lake Erie alone has now been covered by 95% of its area.
However, physicist James Kessler of NOAA believes that ice levels at a specific day are not the most important indicator; the indicators to be monitored are seasonal averages, duration, and annual peaks - usually falling in mid- or late February.
NOAA warns that more cold spells may be ahead.
Meanwhile, according to the Tet weather forecast of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting of Vietnam, on February 15th (December 28th of the lunar calendar), a cold air mass is moving southward. In the North, there will be rain in some places, the highest temperature is commonly 24-27 degrees Celsius.
Around the morning of February 17 (1st day of Tet), cold air affects the mountainous areas of the Northeast region; from the evening and night of February 17 it is strengthened more strongly, affecting other places in the North (except Lai Chau, Dien Bien), North Central region and some places in Central Central region.
From the night of February 16 (December 29th of the lunar calendar) to February 19 (the 3rd day of Tet), the North and North Central regions will have rain, scattered light rain.
From the night of February 17-19 (the 1st to the 3rd day of Tet), the North and Thanh Hoa will be cold, with deep cold in some mountainous areas. The lowest temperature is commonly 16-19 degrees Celsius, in some mountainous areas below 15 degrees Celsius.
Hanoi weather forecast: From the night of February 16-19 (December 29th to the 3rd day of Tet) there will be scattered light rain; from the night of February 17-19 it will be cold; the lowest temperature is 17-19 degrees C.
