Florida, Beijing:
With the recent cold wave across the northern hemisphere, temperatures are dipping down to unheard lows. In many parts of the world, mercury has dipped down to its lowest in more than two decades.
Norway is facing its lowest temperatures in more than two decades. On Friday the mercury dropped to -42 C in central Norway - the coldest temperature measured in mainland Norway since 1987.
The normally sunny Florida in the US is reeling under sub-freezing temperatures over the past week. Several blasts of arctic air have gripped the area. A late-week rain storm could cause damage to the crops. Citrus fruit and sugarcane growers in Florida are the most worried as temperatures have dropped to the lowest levels in over 20 years - the freeze is the worst since December 1989.
Heavy snowfall caused havoc in parts of Europe, causing traffic accidents, downing power lines, and halting flights out of southern France. More than 160 people were trapped overnight on a frozen highway Germany. The trapped people survived by running their car engines until police and rescue personnel used snow ploughs and excavators. German railways reported that many trains in the northeast were not running because railroad tracks were blocked by snow.
In China, more than 5,000 people were evacuated after the Xinjiang region was hit by a strong blizzard that left one person dead. The Civil Affairs Ministry said heavy snow flattened 800 homes and damaged nearly 5000 others. The snow storm which started last week has caused the deaths of over 1.7 million livestock and paralysed traffic in almost the whole Altay region. The heavy snowstorms also caused cancellation of hundreds of flights, closed highways and rail lines.