Ice appears on Fansipan peak

At around 5am this morning, November 23, when the temperature dropped to 2 degrees Celsius, a thin layer of ice, also known as frost, covered the wooden floor where the Fansipan symbol is located and the trees and grass on the top of the mountain.

This is the first time in the winter of 2024-2025 that a thin layer of ice has appeared on the ground and grass on the top of Fansipan in Sa Pa, Lao Cai.

After about 30 minutes, when the sun rose, the ice gradually melted.

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said the ice appeared because the North was affected by cold air combined with dry northeast winds blowing from the ground up, causing the temperature to drop at night. Early this morning, Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Mau Son (Lang Son) were cold at 10 degrees Celsius, and Trung Khanh (Cao Bang) was 11 degrees Celsius.

The American website Accuweather predicts that next week, high points over 1,500 meters above sea level like Sa Pa will have extremely cold weather (average below 13 degrees Celsius) from Monday and will remain so until the end of the week.

According to the rule, if Sa Pa (1,600 m high) is cold at 10-13 degrees Celsius, Fansipan peak (3,143 m high) can drop to 0-3 degrees Celsius because for every 100 m increase in height, the temperature drops by 0.6 degrees Celsius. There is a possibility that ice may continue to appear at this peak.

Ice usually forms when the air temperature is below 4 degrees Celsius, the surface of objects or plants on the ground is approximately 0 degrees Celsius. Water vapor will condense into solid, porous, white crystals like salt, so it is called hoarfrost.

In the winter of 2023-2024, ice appeared for the first time on Fansipan peak on November 20.

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting predicts that strong cold spells from December 2024 to February 2025 will cause prolonged severe cold. There is a possibility of frost and ice in the northern mountainous areas.

Temperatures from December 2024 to May 2025 nationwide are approximately the same as the average of many years, with December 2024 in the Northwest and the Central and South Central regions being 0.5-1 degrees Celsius higher.