Temperatures in China hit 28-year low

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APIn this Dec. 29, 2012 photo, a worker looks through a snow-covered bus window while on his way to inspect electric power transmission lines after heavy snow in Huaibei, in central China's Anhui province. China Meteorological Administration says the country's average temperature has hit the lowest in 28 years this winter, as snow and ice throughout China have closed highways, canceled flights and stranded travelers. The figures released by the administration on Friday, Jan. 4, 2013 show the national average was -3.8 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit) since late November. By ReutersTemperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three  decades, cold enough to freeze coastal waters and trap 1,000 ships in  ice, official media said at the weekend.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldSince late November the  country has shivered at an average of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.3  degrees colder than the previous average, and the chilliest in 28 years,  state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, citing the China  Meteorological Administration.

Bitter cold has even frozen the  sea in Laizhou Bay on the coast of Shandong province in the east,  stranding nearly 1,000 ships, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Zheng  Dong, chief meteorologist at the Yantai Marine Environment Monitoring  Center under the State Oceanic Administration, told the paper that the  area under ice in Laizhou Bay was 291 square km this week.

Transport around the country has been severely disrupted.

More than 140 flights from the state capital airport in central Hunan province  were delayed, while heavy snowfall forced the closure of some sections  of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, the China Daily said.

Temperatures  in the northeast fell even further, reaching a 43-year low of minus  15.3 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit), about 3.7 degrees below the previous recorded  average.

One truck driver in southeastern Jiangxi province,  caught in a 5 km (3.1 miles) queue caused by a pileup that happened  after heavy snowfall, told China Daily the snow and extreme cold had  caught him unawares.

"I didn't expect such a situation, so I've  brought no warm coats or food. All I can do now is wait," trucker Yao  Xuefeng told the paper.

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