Beicology: It Snowed in Beijing Yesterday!?

Yep, it snowed yesterday.

According to the city's meteorological authority, Beijing's suburban mountainous areas saw snowfal on Apr 27. This is a huge change from Monday’s weather, where the capital saw temperature highs of 29 ℃, making it really feel like summer had arrived. 

The abrupt temperature drop has seen us going from t-shirt weather to begrudgingly fishing out our winter jacket weather, begging the question why is it cold again and when will we finally be able to put away our winter wear for good?

Well, according to Zhang Linna, the meteorological service's chief forecaster, this last little taste of winter, with the snow being caused by cold air coming down from the north and weakened radiation caused by thick clouds. This led to temperature highs plummeting to 10.7 ℃, a whole 13 degrees lower than Tuesday’s highest temperature of 23.2 ℃. 

Most affected by the temperature drop was the Lingshan Mountain area of Mentougou District in southwest Beijing, which saw unseasonably late snowfall -- the average last snowfall date in Beijing is Mar 17. In this area there were temperature lows of 1.7 ℃ and although it did make for some very pretty sights, it’s probably not the weather most people are hoping for come late April. 

However, it does look like this will indeed be the last of the cold weather, with temperatures set to rise slowly from today and Friday and some weather forecasts predicting that temperatures could go up as high as 35 ℃ by May 3!

In fact, the weather forecast for the whole of the May Holiday looks pretty good with clear skies and low pollution levels. Hopefully we’ll be able to go outside to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather. 

READ: Six Common Birds You'll See (and Hear) in Beijing

Images: Beijing Meteorological Service, China Weather, Katie Coy