Hong Kong was freezing on Sunday as temperature in the city went down to 3.3 degrees Celsius. It was the coldest day registered in the Special Administrative Region since 1957.
Since it was still very cold on Monday, the region’s government shuttered kinder and primary schools that day. The cold snap across the region was because of the polar vortex that descended on northern mainland China that also caused a cold surge in Hong Kong, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The region’s weather bureau said that in urban areas, the temperature was around 4 degrees on Monday, while in the northern portion of the New Territories, it was almost zero. According to the Observatory, the unusually cold weather – which caused ice to form on leaves on the slopes of Tai Mo Shan – is expected to last until Wednesday.
As a result, competitors in a 100-kilometer ultra-marathon race left the event while cross Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s tallest peak, as many of the ice racers slipped on its slopes when they were blown by freezing winds. Firefighters had to be called to help the racers who slipped or suffered from hypothermia, reported The Guardian.
Because of the rarity of a very cold day in Hong Kong, a number of residents endured the freezing air and went out to take photos and videos, resulting in social media being flooded with images of residents posting their selfies on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
But a government spokesman reminded residents to wear warm clothes and avoid prolonged exposure to wintry winds, especially taking into consideration that many homes do not have central heating. But some residents ignored the advice and went to The Peak looking for snow, reported The South China Morning Post.