According to the China Weather Network, due to the eastward and northward movement of cold air, Ganzi County in Guoluo Prefecture, which has been plagued by severe snow disasters for 28 consecutive days, has experienced three consecutive days without significant snowfall. Meanwhile, with rising temperatures and windy weather, the speed of snow melting in the local area has accelerated, and more than half of the snow has melted compared to February 22nd. It is predicted that from the night of February 25th to the daytime on February 26th, Qinghai will experience a new round of snowfall, which may lead to a recurrence in the trend of snow melting in Ganzi.
Starting from February 23rd, Ganzi County in Guoluo Prefecture has basically seen no snowfall. As of 08:00 on February 25th, the snow depth in Ganzi County was 4 centimeters, decreasing by another 3 centimeters based on the reduction of 1 centimeter on February 23rd. This is the first time since February 17th that the snow depth has dropped below 5 centimeters. Compared to the snow depth of 8 centimeters on February 22nd, more than half of it has already melted. However, in the wild and some mountain ravines, valleys, low-lying areas, and shaded places, the snow is still very thick.
For three consecutive days, Ganzi County has mainly experienced cloudy weather, with continuously rising temperatures and strong winds aiding in the acceleration of snow melting. Monitoring data shows that the highest temperature on February 22nd exceeded 0°C, reaching 0.8°C, and then increased to 0.9°C on February 23rd. The highest temperature yesterday rose to 2.4°C. At the same time, continuous windy weather has occurred in the Ganzi region recently. From 13:00 to 15:00 yesterday, the average wind speed was around 10m/s, with the maximum wind speed reaching 18.5 meters/second, meeting the criteria for strong wind weather, which was also beneficial for snow melting.
However, due to prolonged exposure to snow disasters, the resistance of livestock has decreased, leading to an increase in deaths. According to the latest disaster statistics, as of today, the affected area has reached 10.1058 million mu (about 1.66 million acres), with 26,495 livestock dead (heads, sheep, horses), including 24,612 cattle, 1,831 sheep, and 52 horses, accounting for 9.29% of the total livestock population at the beginning of the year, increasing by 1.66% compared to the previous day.
Currently, the local government and meteorological departments are closely monitoring weather changes, utilizing bulldozers, excavators, and manual snow removal methods to continue clearing roads, striving to gain valuable time for rescue operations. Civil affairs departments are also accelerating the allocation and transportation of relief funds and materials, ensuring their distribution to the affected people, overcoming various difficulties to deliver relief supplies to the hands of the victims, and conducting thorough disaster investigations.
The Qinghai Meteorological Observatory predicts that from the night of February 25th to the daytime on February 26th, Qinghai will experience a new round of snowfall. Except for western Haixi where it will be cloudy, the rest of the province will have overcast skies with light snow or snow showers. This means that the current snow melting trend in Ganzi may recur, causing further complications for disaster relief efforts. (Written by Qiu Yuanyuan, Chen Xi, Li Shanhe, and Xiang Qiumei)