A cold wave is set to sweep 90 percent of China from north to south, according to a warning issued by the National Meteorological Center on Thursday.

For some weeks now, China has been battling one of the worst cold waves in its recent history - plunging temperatures to freezing levels in almost all part of the country.

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On Friday morning, unprecedented cold waves brought life across China to grinding halt; leading to the shut down of many highways and disrupting airport traffic across the country. Schools and colleges in many cities also remained close.    

Municipalities and government agencies in many important cities like Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi have elevated their critical facilities to emergency level to deal with any incidents caused by the cold waves.

Government authorities have already started taking precaution to deal with power failures, traffic jams and train/flight delays.         

Temperature to dip -17 degree Celsius in Beijing      

As per the Municipal Meteorological Service, temperature in capital city of China is expected to freeze down to minus 17 degree Celsius by Saturday morning. This will be lowest temperature that Beijing will endure in 30 years.           

The Municipal Meteorological Service further warned that strong winds can plunge temperatures in mountainous areas of the city to as low as minus 23 degree Celsius.

Shanghai To Witness Record Breaking Cold Temperature 

As Beijing is set to experience its coldest days in 30 years, the financial capital Shanghai is also bracing for record breaking cold temperature. As per Municipal Meteorological Service Forecast, temperature on Sunday and Monday in Shanghai may inch closer towards or even break the coldest temperature set in 1981.

The commercial city has been experiencing heavy sleet and rainfall since Wednesday.

Extreme conditions like winter storms of 2008 are highly unlikely  

Although China is going through unprecedented cold waves, meteorological experts believe that this time conditions and causalities would not be as severe as winter storms of 2008. This is presumably because this time cold period will be much shorter.

In January and February 2008, China, especially Southern China, experienced its worst snowstorm in five decades. Leading to deaths of 129 people and economic losses valued at 150 billion yuan.      

TagsCold in China, Cold Weather in China