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​Why Is First Snow in Beijing So Heavy? Will This Winter Be Very Cold? Here are Answers from Expert

2021-11-11 12:31  

On the day of Beginning of Winter, Beijing saw the first snow fall of this winter. It was reported as a citywide heavy snowfall with snowstorm in some areas of Beijing. Why did the first snow fall so heavily this year? Will this winter be relatively colder? Zhang Yingjuan, Senior Engineer of Beijing Climate Center, answered these questions.

Zhang Yingjuan said that the heavy snow fall was due to the intersection of cold, warm, and humid air streams during the cold wave, which brought sufficient water vapor. The warm and humid air streams met the strong cold Siberian wind heading south, and then resulted in the heavy snow and snowstorm we experienced on the Beginning of Winter.

In terms of timing, the first snow this winter also came early, coming second-place for the past decade, only after the snow fall on November 4, 2012, and tying for second place with the snow fall on November 6, 2015.

Will the heavy first snow lead to a colder winter? Zhang Yingjuan explained that currently the severity of snow fall has little correlation with the temperature of this winter, while further analysis is needed. Specifically, the factors affecting winter temperature are influenced by atmospheric circulation as well as the combined influence of sea temperature, ocean ice, snow on the plateau along with other factors. Multiple factors are at play in determining the temperature in winter.

According to the current climate forecast, the temperature in Beijing this winter will be generally lower than previous years, mainly because of the La Nina effect, resulting in a relatively high probability of cold temperature this winter. However, such prediction is not absolute. After all, last winter, under the La Nina effect, Beijing was cold in the early months of winter with the temperature climbing up later, leading to a rather mild winter last year. "Therefore, La Nina effect does not necessarily lead to a cold winter, as it may only affect a period of time, and this winter is no exception," Zhang Yingjuan said.