VietNamNet Bridge - Snow has blanketed northern mountainous areas of Vietnam as they are experiencing the strongest cold spell since the onset of winter.

Many northern provinces have been experiencing bitter cold, while snow has been falling heavily in many areas across the northern mountainous region due to a strong cold spell that has enveloped almost half of the country since Saturday.

Snow blanketed Sa Pa in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai yesterday and temperatures plunged to minus 5 degrees C on Saturday night, the lowest temperature in years. The temperature at Sa Pa was measured at 0 degrees C yesterday morning.

Local elderly people said this is the biggest snowfall they have seen in many years.

Freezing temperatures were also reported in other areas, such as minus 0.4 degrees C in Tam Dao(Phu Tho Province), minus 0.2 degrees C in Dong Van (Ha Giang Province) and minus 4 degrees C in Mau Son Mountain (Lang Son Province).

Sections of the national road 4D from O Quy Ho Pass (Sa Pa District) to Tam Duong District (Lai Chau Province) have been blanketed with snow and a centimetre of ice, posing danger to traffic.

Snow was also seen in higher-altitude areas, including Khau Pha Pass in Mu Cang Chai district, Suoi Giang Commune in Van Chan and Hat Luu and Tram Tau communes in Tram Tau District.

In Ha Noi, the highest temperature yesterday was forecast at 7 to 10 degrees C. Snow has also been seen in Ba Vi District, which is about 50km from Ha Noi.

The cold spell has expanded as far south as the central localities, bringing rain to most areas along the central coast.

Snowfall began after the temperature plummeted overnight, with thick ice and frost appearing on Phja Oac peak in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang.

The temperature was recorded at negative 7 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning on the wintry white mountain peak.

The rare appearance of snow attracted some tourists who came to see the winter frost, but it also negatively impacted the locals' activities.

According to Chairman of the Thanh Cong commune's People's Committee Ban Van Son, severe frost has damaging consequences to agricultural production, and it also poses health risks.

Authorities have urged locals to take several measures to cope with the cold weather.

Mong ethnic minority families in Sa Pa have taken measures to protect their cattle and crops from damage caused by the cold snap.

The cold front moving from the northern region may also reduce temperatures in HCM City and neighbouring provinces to as low as 17-18 degrees Celsius this weekend and early next week.

The ongoing cold snap has also triggered strong sea gusts, posing serious hazards to boats.

The Tonkin Gulf and sea off central and southern provinces and the entire East Sea, including the waters around Viet Nam's Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagoes, have witnessed rough seas and fierce winds.

The cold snap, expected to last until Wednesday, has also greatly affected localities in the central region, causing temperatures to drop to 10.4 and 12.4 degrees Celsius in Vinh City, the heart of Nghe An Province, and Ha Tinh Province, respectively.

Snow draws crowds to Sa Pa, officials suspend Fansipan tour for safety

Officials from Vietnam’s northern highlands have ordered travel firms to suspend all tours to the country’s highest peak Fansipan as a heavy cold spell starting freezing the area.

A statement from the management board of Hoang Lien National Park said all tours to Fansipan, a 3,143-meter (10,311 feet) mountain that rises above Sa Pa and all hiking activities around the resort town between January 23 and 27 must be cancelled for safety reason.

The order came as tourists kept flocking to the northern highlands with an attempt to enjoy the rare chill on mountain tops.

Travel firms said they have given tourists a refund and kept them around Sa Pa town, which has also seen a lot of snow from early Sunday with temperature dropping to minus 2 degrees Celsius.

Snow occasionally appears in Sa Pa and other places in the northern highlands, drawing a lot of curious foreign and local tourists every time. Snow blanketed the area just more than a month ago.

Temperatures in Hanoi, Hai Phong and northern plains have dropped to around eight degrees the past days while southern Vietnam has been forecast to be chilly at 17 degrees the coming week.

At 2am on January 24, snow began falling on the peak of Mau So in Lang Son province when the temperature fell to -4oC.       Snow quickly covered the area. Locals said that they have not seen snow since 2008.       . Nguyen Thi Hue, a 3rd-year student from the Hanoi University of Technology arrived in Mau Son on January 23 afternoon to see snow. "I feel like I'm in Europe right now," she said.     Playing with snow.      Snow skiing.     Mr. Hoang Quoc Huy, head of the Mau Son Hydro-meteorological Station, said that the temperature on the morning of  Jan. 24 was -4,2oC, breaking the record low temperature of -3,6oC in 2011.                                                            In Sapa town, Lao Cai province, snow also began falling on the early morning of Sunday, Jan. 24.      At 10am, the snow kept falling.       Young people took photos with snow.                                                                                                                           All hotels in Sapa are full.             The roofs of houses in Sapa were covered with snow.     Tourists are flocking to Sapa to see snow.      Snow kept falling last night.                Sapa farmers have suffered huge losses because of snow as thousands of hectares of crops were damaged.                   On January 24 afternoon, traffic jams on the road to Sapa was up to 10km long.     Traffic congestion was caused by the huge volume of vehicles flocking to Sapa to see snow while many others left Sapa to Hanoi and other provinces for a new week.    This was the most serious-ever traffic congestion on the road to Sapa, local policemen said.        This driver said it took him over one hour to move on the distance of 2km.        A road in Sapa town.

VNS/VNN/Zing/TN/VNE