A cold spell from the north is forecast to cause the temperature in northern Vietnam to nosedive, with snow likely to fall in some places, whereas the mercury will also drop in southern localities between the year end and the New Year’s very first days.

The cold snap is expected to approach the Vietnam - China border by December 29 and start affecting northern localities on December 30.

According to Tran Quang Nang, head of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting’s Weather Forecast Department, the new cold front will be typically stronger than the previous one.

Although it will yet to be the strongest cold spell of the year, according to Le Thi Xuan Lan - former deputy head of the Forecast Department under Southern Vietnam Hydrometeorology Station, it is likely to bring the temperature down to negative degrees Celsius and snow in some mountainous northern provinces.

After that, the cold air will gradually diffuse southward, affecting the central and southern Vietnamese localities, Lan said. 

It is forecast that the southern region will experience chilly weather on the 2021 New Year's Eve, with the temperature to decrease by about 1-2 degrees Celsius. 

Some places can experience the lowest mercury of 18 degrees Celsius.

Lan also warned that the cold air may cause a big difference in temperature between day and night, leading to plant diseases in the winter-spring rice crop. 

It will also be necessary for farmers to have an eye for Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year) plant diseases and wrong-time blooms.

Lan added that there is a possibility that a low-pressure area off the Philippines will enter the East Vietnam Sea on December 29 and remain active northeastern Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands. 

However, the cold front in the mainland will push that low-pressure area southward, making it less likely to affect the mainland but causing bad weather at sea.

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