Temperatures below -50C: Asia plunged into extreme cold

Harsh winter conditions are currently affecting large swathes of Asia, with temperatures approaching record lows.

Bitterly cold air is moving from the Russian Arctic southwards, bringing biting temperatures, masses of snow and lashings of freezing rain.

Extremely low temperatures are now reaching the borders of China and Mongolia, with figures recorded as low as -41C, at 1000m above sea level in Mongolia. In Ojmiakon, eastern Siberia, temperatures have plummeted below -50C.

The cold wave swept across southern China and then flooded into northern Vietnam too, producing dramatic drops in the temperatures.

In Guangxi, southern China, temperatures dropped from over 30C to below 10C in just one day, with many other parts seeing temperatures drop by over 20C from unseasonably warm conditions prior.

In the next few days, temperatures in Yakutia, in the Russian Far East, could drop below -50C. Even along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, which should typically be warmer than inland areas at this time of the year, temperatures are forecast to be as low as -30C.

Some of this cold air is also flowing towards Japan, with the WeatherRadar indicating a dramatic "Sea-Effect Snow" phenomenon.

This is similar to "Lake-Effect Snow" in the US, where cold air passes over warmer waters, driving significant snowfall along the west coasts of the Japanese islands, including the snowy city of Sapporo.

Japan is no stranger to this phenomenon, with hundreds of centimetres of snow loaded along the northwest of Japan every winter, and arguably making it the snowiest place on Earth.