North set for cold spell this week

According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the cold spell together with the northeast monsoon will make the northern and north-central regions cooler at night and early in the morning with temperatures ranging from 16 to 19 degrees Celsius in mountainous areas and from 19 to 22 degrees in the plains.

Day temperatures will be five to six degrees higher.

The minimum temperature in Hanoi will drop by four to five degrees from current levels to around 20 degrees.

American site AccuWeather said temperatures would range from 22 to 32 degrees on Friday and drop to 20-26 during the next two days.

Localities situated more than 1,500 m above sea level such as Sa Pa City will see temperatures drop to 14-19 degrees this weekend, it said.

Under the influence of the El Nino phenomenon, autumn in the north has been 0.5-1 degree warmer than normal.