Overnight temperature plunges to minus 50 degrees in Mongolia

Ulan Bator, Dec 20 (IANS) Overnight temperatures plunged to minus 50 degrees Celsius in Zuungovi soum, an administrative subdivision of the western Mongolian province of Uvs, from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to the country's weather monitoring agency.

The figure marked the coldest temperature in Mongolia this winter, the National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring said in a statement on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of last week, a strong cold front that originated in Siberia, Russia, has been sweeping across extensive areas of Mongolia, causing temperature drops and bringing strong winds and blizzards, reports Xinhua news agency.

The cold wave is expected to continue until Friday.

According to the weather agency, on December 26, 1966, overnight temperatures dropped to minus 55.6 degrees in the same soum, the coldest in Mongolia's history.