Buzz
Upon hearing news of the snowfall, numerous tourists in Sa Pa town and Lao Cai city rushed to the O Quy Ho and Tram Ton areas to marvel at the snow, causing severe traffic congestion.
Reporters conducted an interview with Mr. Le Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Central Meteorological Forecasting Center, regarding this snowfall event and the upcoming weather conditions for Christmas and New Year.
– What caused the sudden snow covering the streets, houses, and trees in the O Quy Ho and Tram Ton areas, as well as National Highway 4D from Sa Pa to Lai Chau, sir?
Typically, during winter, there is about one occurrence of cold air descending to lower altitudes accompanied by snowfall at higher altitudes, resulting in snowfall similar to what we have been witnessing from yesterday to today (December 16th).
– Until when will it snow in Sapa?
After monitoring the systems, we've noticed that snow will only fall today. So, people rushing up to Sapa won't make it in time.
– What will the weather be like afterwards?
In Sapa, January and February will both be chilling.
– Will there be snow in Sapa this Christmas?
Unlikely.
– In Vietnam, where will there be snow on Christmas?
Snow seldom appears in Vietnam because it requires the coordination of both factors as I mentioned earlier: cold air must come in at low levels, and there must be snow streams at high altitudes like yesterday. If only one of these factors is present, snow won't occur.
According to our forecast, to have snowfall like this in Vietnam, a winter season only experiences it once or twice. This year, there's been one snowfall already, so the likelihood of a repeat in December is very slim. If it does happen, it'll likely be in January or February.
This year's Christmas is likely to be cold only at night, no snow. In Hanoi on Christmas Eve, temperatures will be around 10 – 12 degrees Celsius at night, higher during the day.
– Besides Sapa, where else in Vietnam is experiencing snow?
In Meo Vac and Dong Van (Ha Giang), there's also snow. The temperature in Sapa is currently around 3 – 5 degrees Celsius, while in Dong Van and Meo Vac, it's 6 – 8 degrees.
– How long will the snow last in Meo Vac and Dong Van (Ha Giang)?
The rain is moving northeast, so there'll be no more snow in Sapa this afternoon, only Hà Giang still has some, but it's also diminishing.
– There's a random coincidence, a large snowstorm formed from Jerusalem - Israel is slowly sweeping through Egyptian territory, creating an unprecedented snowfall in Cairo for the past 130 years. How do you explain this?
Perhaps it's just climate change. The globe is tending to be influenced by climate change. The impact of climate change increases extreme phenomena - things beyond the usual such as hotter, colder will occur more often and not follow any rules.
Extreme phenomena used to be rare, now due to the influence of climate change, we'll encounter more. Snowfall in Cairo is also a manifestation of the influence of climate change.
Sitting in Vietnam and talking about snowfall in Cairo (Egypt), I can't answer immediately because such matters require thorough research and investigation. But surely there's no connection between the snowstorm in Egypt and the snowfall in Vietnam.
– Does this mean that the snowfall in Sapa is also a manifestation of the influence of climate change?
Recently, there has been an increase in extreme phenomena in Vietnam – phenomena that we rarely saw before, such as hailstorms, snow. In the first half of March 2011, we also saw snowfall in Sapa.
In the first half of December 2013, encountering snow was also a first-time occurrence. Clearly, it's due to the influence of climate change, and in the future, we will encounter even stronger, larger storms.
– How is the forecasting work for the appearance of these 'unexpected guests' going?
Our colleagues as well as meteorologists around the world have advised global citizens, including Vietnam, that we need to have different thoughts, awareness about climate phenomena.
The experiences we've accumulated over the years are not enough to cope with the impacts of climate change.
For example, last year there were stories of people in Thai Binh, Nam Dinh... saying that if they dipped their feet in the water and felt it was cold, then there couldn't be a storm, a tropical low-pressure system.
Clearly, that's not correct. The evidence is that we've had storms both last year and this year.
Therefore, I advise people to prepare for phenomena we've never encountered before. The rules will change, not every season will be the same as before anymore.
In the current climate change context, making forecasts, warnings is very difficult. We always try to give early warnings and timely additional warnings to closely match the situation, but it's impossible to predict with 100% accuracy which phenomena will occur.
– This year's Tet holiday lasts for 9 days, how will the weather be?
During the 9-day Tet holiday, according to us, over half of that time the weather will be cold, very cold in the northern provinces. As for the central and central highlands provinces, during that time the weather will just be cool. It's worth noting that the central highlands and southern regions will have many unseasonal rains during this Tet holiday.
– Thank you!
***
Source: Travel Guide from Mytour – According to VTC News
MytourJanuary 2, 2014
