The capital city of Vietnam has experienced the most frigid weather after almost 40 years, way lower than expected, local meteorologists said.

According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the lowest temperature in Hanoi had been estimated at 8-9 degrees Celsius but a huge cold snap currently hitting the northern region caused it to plunge to 5.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday at 9:00 am.

This has been the lowest point since January 31, 1977.

It was a little ‘warmer’ in the capital on Monday, as the temperature climbed to 7.7 degrees Celsius.

Many kindergartens and elementary schools told their parents to keep their kids at home whenever the temperature dropped to below 10 degrees Celsius.

The Ministry of Education also advised middle schools in the capital to shut down when it was lower than seven degrees Celsius.

The hydro-meteorological forecasting center said that such extreme weather conditions were caused by the massive cold front, affecting many localities around the Red River Delta and rendering some locales in the northern region to be covered with snow, namely Sa Pa, a resort town in Lao Cai Province.  

The cold spell will keep battering the northern region until Wednesday, the center said on Monday.

Moc Chau, a district of Son La Province, has also experienced the frosty weather conditions as the temperature has been around minus 0.5 degrees Celsius in recent times.

It was forecast to be roughly below 7.8 degrees Celsius in localities in the northern and north-central regions, including Ha Tinh Province, early Monday.

The Tonkin Gulf and sea off central and southern provinces, as well as the waters around Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagoes in the East Vietnam Sea have experienced tremendous winds of levels six to eight and seen rough seas over the last several days.