Winter's Here

Despite the blue skies (not a brown cloud to be seen), the weather has cooled dramatically in Beijing over the past few days. On Saturday, temperatures in the capital dropped below zero degrees celsius for the first time this season and the city's bureau of meteorology has also announced that the capital officially entered winter on Nov 11, one week later than usual. According to the experts, a Beijing winter begins when the city experiences 5 consecutive days where the average temperature is below 10 degrees celsius. In previous years this has normally occurred in the last week of October and has been accompanied by sub-zero temperatures and light falls of snow in the mountainous areas to the north and west of the capital. However, this Autumn has been particularly warm and long, with temperatures hovering around 3 degrees above the average.

If the weather starts to behave itself a bit more, Beijingers can expect the first fall of snow (excluding freak snow storms in July) in early to mid-December - last year it was Dec 11 and in 2006 it came early with a light fall on Nov 24. After that, the lakes should be frozen thick enough to skate on by mid-January. In the meantime, rug up, grab a bag of roasted chestnuts and prepare yourself for a cold Beijing winter.

Links and Sources
Xinhua: 北京入冬晚了一周 昨天最低气温首次破零
Beijing Daily: 入冬首场雨雪天将至最低-2℃
AP: Clouds of pollution threaten glaciers, health
The Beijinger: Weekend Ice Skating
The Beijinger: Beijing by Numbers
Tiantianyou.com: 北京的冬天 (top image)