Calendars may still read November, but in northern China it could have been early January on Sunday morning. Residents there woke up to ice-cold winds, glacial temperatures and snow.

Winter has come early to China, packing freezing gales and polar temperatures. The lowest readings in Heilongjiang's Mohe County, known as China's "North Pole", reached a frosty 36 degrees Celsius below zero.

"Our county normally becomes this cold in December, but this year it's come a whole month early. It's really cold now," Li Chunying

Other northern regions -- including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Hebei and Beijing -- also had their first taste of winter, with temperatures dropping over 15 degrees in some areas overnight.

And icy winds are set to take the cold front eastwards.

"This has been the strongest cold front this fall. It will continue sweeping across eastern, central and southern parts of the country, with the east especially hard hit. Temperatures in certain areas will drop by over 12 degrees," Zhang Tao, chief forecaster with National Meteorological Center said.

The highest temperature in the capital Beijing on Monday will not reach above zero degrees. Snow storm alerts have meanwhile been issued for the next three days in northeast Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning and two other cold fronts are expected to hit the country in the coming week.

Weather authorities have warned people to drive safely, as the rainy and snowy weather could lead to slippery roads.

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