According to you, what is the main reason for the sharp drop in temperature in Ho Chi Minh City?
- The cause of this deep cooling down is due to the simultaneous impact of three factors.
The first is the strong spread of cold air from the North. In January, cold air masses are continuously added and pouring deep into the South. When reaching the Southern region, this air mass has weakened and gradually warmed up, but is still strong enough to push the hot air mass away, thereby lowering the temperature of the entire region.
The second factor comes from the characteristics of the dry season. In January, Ho Chi Minh City has completely entered the dry season, the night sky is usually very cloudy. During the day, the ground absorbs heat from sunlight; and at night, if there are clouds, the cloud layer will act as a " blanket" to help retain heat.
However, when the sky is clear, all the heat from the ground will quickly escape into space. As a result, the temperature drops very deeply from 4-7 am, making people clearly feel the cold even though the daytime is still quite sunny.
The third reason is low air humidity. During cold air waves, humidity in Ho Chi Minh City often drops to a fairly low level (mostly below 50%). Dry air has a lower heat retention capacity than humid air.
This causes the temperature range during the day to increase: hot during the day, deep cold at night. However, a clear cold feeling usually only lasts for a few short hours before sunrise.
How rare is this temperature level in the last 10 years, sir?
- Although no data has reached a record milestone in the long-term observation series, this deep cold spell in the Ho Chi Minh City area is still considered one of the special cooldowns, especially when considered in the past 10 years.
Specifically, at Nha Be station, the lowest temperature recorded on the morning of January 9 was 17.8 degrees Celsius, becoming the lowest level in the past 10 years (previously the lowest level was 18.2 degrees Celsius, appearing in 2016).
How many cold spells will Ho Chi Minh City experience from now until Tet Nguyen Dan?
- From now until the Lunar New Year 2026, i.e. throughout January and the first half of February, is still the peak period of increased cold air waves. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City area may also experience some more cooling waves (about 2-3 waves) causing cool weather.
However, the possibility of another deep temperature drop like this one is not high, because to have deep cold spells in the South, many special meteorological factors need to converge at the same time. The temperature drops from now until Tet are likely to only bring the temperature down to the threshold of 20-22 degrees Celsius.
So what should Ho Chi Minh City residents pay attention to when the temperature drops?
- With a temperature of 17-19 degrees Celsius recorded in this period, which is a fairly low temperature for tropical cities - the body can be "heat shocked" if there is no proper preparation.
People should pay attention to keeping warm when going out in the early morning; should exercise lightly indoors to warm the body before opening the door to go out. In daily life, you should switch to using warm water to bathe and wash your face. After bathing, you need to dry yourself and dress warmly right in the closed room before going out. Warm water helps maintain body temperature, you can add a few slices of ginger to the water to warm the body. Limit showering late at night and absolutely do not shower after 10 pm.
For older adults, blood pressure needs to be monitored regularly because cold weather easily causes vasoconstriction, causing sudden high blood pressure.
For children, it is necessary to keep their feet warm when sleeping and when going out. If children show signs of coughing or runny nose, they should be treated early with physiological saline to limit the risk of deep respiratory infections.
In addition, everyone should increase vitamin and mineral supplementation to improve resistance to weather changes.
- Thank you, sir!
