Tourists to the mountainous town of Sapa in the border province of Lao Cai saw showers combined with hail for 10 minutes on the morning of April 4. The hailstones had a diameter ranging between 0.5-1cm.

The sleet provided a great amount of water and nitrogen for rice and other farm produce, and put an end to the drought in local springs and rivers. The average amount of rainfall was measured between 30-70mm in some places in Lao Cai province.

Despite forecasts of possible cold weather and strong winds, an estimated more than 4,000 tourists came to Sapa to enjoy their weekend, which was lengthened by the death anniversary of the Hung Kings – the Vietnamese nation’s founders.

The Lao Cai Hydro-meteorological Centre reports that a cold front is moving slowly from the north and is expected to affect the weather in northern Vietnam on April 5.

Northwestern provinces now have rains and scattered showers and thunderstorms, with rainfall ranging from 20-30mm. The average temperature in the overall region fell to the lowest of 18-200 Celsius while the Sapa area had temperatures of 11-130C.

VietNamNet/VOV