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China Braces for Blistering Cold This Week

A worker installs light bulbs decoration on snow covered trees along a street for the upcoming Christmas festival and year-end season in Beijing, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP)
A worker installs light bulbs decoration on snow covered trees along a street for the upcoming Christmas festival and year-end season in Beijing, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP)
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China Braces for Blistering Cold This Week

A worker installs light bulbs decoration on snow covered trees along a street for the upcoming Christmas festival and year-end season in Beijing, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP)
A worker installs light bulbs decoration on snow covered trees along a street for the upcoming Christmas festival and year-end season in Beijing, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP)

Chinese authorities warned on Tuesday of heavy snowfall, blizzards and plunging temperatures this week in most parts of the country in what could be one of the coldest December snaps in China in decades.

Beijing is expected to be hit by temperatures as low as minus 18 Celsius (minus 0.4 Fahrenheit) this weekend compared to around minus 8C (17.6F) on average in mid-December. Even Shanghai in the south could be buffeted by weather as frigid as minus 4C (24.8F) on Saturday through Sunday, unusual for this time of the year.

Parts of north, northwest and south China, as well as parts of the Inner Mongolia region, Guizhou province and even regions south of the Yangtze River, could see temperatures slide by more than 14 degrees Celsius, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) cautioned.

It has called on local governments to take precautions against the cold weather, advised the public to keep warm, and urged measures to be taken to protect tropical crops and aquatic produce.

Many rivers in Heilongjiang, a vast northeastern province that shares a border with Russia, have already frozen over.

Also on Tuesday, the China Meteorological Administration activated a Level-II emergency response - its second-highest emergency response level - for the cold wave and blizzards.

In Beijing, more than 6,000 people have been put on call for any road emergency rescues and 2,200 sets of snow-removal equipment and machinery are on standby for deployment.

Additionally, 32,000 tons of snow-thawing agent is ready for use on icy roads and motorways.

The Chinese capital last saw such cold weather on Jan. 7, 2021, when the temperature fell to minus 19.6C (minus 3.3F).

The cold snap in Beijing this week, compared with the autumn-like conditions a week ago, reflects the sharp oscillations in temperatures recently. In October, Beijing experienced one of its warmest Octobers in decades in a year of weather extremes.

Beijing's all-time low temperature was minus 27.4°C (minus 17.3F), set on Feb. 22, 1966. (Reporting by Ryan Woo Editing by Frances Kerry)

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Nepal Resumes Rescue Helicopter Flights to Mount Everest

Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, after weeks of suspension - AFP
Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, after weeks of suspension - AFP
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Nepal Resumes Rescue Helicopter Flights to Mount Everest

Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, after weeks of suspension - AFP
Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, after weeks of suspension - AFP

Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, following weeks of suspension prompted by protests from locals citing environmental impact and loss of income from trekkers.

Helicopters are a key means of transport and crucial for emergency rescue in many remote regions around mountainous Nepal, vast stretches of which are often inaccessible by road.

But they have also been used to give mountaineering teams and tourists a shortcut over challenging terrain in the Sagarmatha National Park, home to Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, AFP reported.

For those who can afford the $1,000 price tag, helicopters reduce the two-week long trek to Everest base camp to just a day -- depriving Nepalis along the overland route of a key source of revenue.

In early January, the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal grounded all flights, blaming the halt on local youths who had blocked landing sites with flags.

The association also said the protesters had warned pilots who landed that they would be forced to walk back on foot.

On Tuesday, association official Pratap Jung Pandey told AFP that rescue flights were reopened Saturday "on humanitarian grounds".

But commercial flights to the region were still suspended, as negotiations with locals for their resumption were ongoing.

"It is going in a positive direction and it should reopen soon. But I cannot say exactly when," Pandey told AFP.

Over 50,000 tourists visit the Everest region every year.

According to the association, the Everest region sees about 15 helicopter flights per day in the winter and up to 60 per day during peak tourist season.

"Rescue flights are crucial in mountaineering to save lives of climbers if anything happens," said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa who runs Imagine Nepal, a mountaineering expedition company.

Earlier this month, German mountaineer Jost Kobusch -- who has made several Himalayan ascents -- cited the lack of helicopter rescues as one of the reasons for ending his solo winter climb up Everest.

"I have never been rescued due to an emergency in my career but right now there are protests going on... making helicopter rescues impossible," he said in a January 11 post on Instagram.

Kobusch also cited other factors, like aftershocks from an earthquake causing riskier conditions.