The first day of Minor Snow is Nov 22, when sun reaches longitude 240 degrees. In this season, the temperature gradually drops to below 0 ℃. It begins to snow.

In Minor Snow, the meridional circulation will be formed in East Asia and there will be low pressure in Siberian areas. With the eastward movement of the latter, the large cold fronts will form and move southward. As a result, there will be a wide range of cold windy weather in the east of China. Minor Snow is a solar term in which there are more cold spells，in which strong cold fronts are much more active than at other times. Due to the influence of the cold air, the first snow in winter often appears in this solar term.

The first five days of Minor Snow are called Hong cang bu xian (the rainbow has hiden), the second fives days are called Tian teng di jian (the sky rises and the earth falls); the third five days are called Bi se cheng dong (winter forms from the blockage). It means that as the temperature drops, there is much snow and less rain in the northern areas, thus the rainbow hides and cannot be seen. It also means that because of the increase of the yang qi of the sky and the decrease of the yin qi of the earth, there is no exchange of yin and yang, thus energy blockage forms. That’s winter.

China covers a vast territory and Minor Snow only typically reflects climate conditions of the lower areas of the Yellow River. There is often an early winter scene there in this season.

In general, there are two characteristics of the weather in Minor Snow:

Temperature continues dropping:

In the Start of Winter, there has been snow in the most areas of the northwest and northeast. Minor Snow means there will be snow in northern China. The Start of Winter brings colder temperatures to the most areas in the north and in Minor Snow the temperature in these areas keeps dropping to 0 ℃ and below. When the temperature is below 0 ℃, precipitation turns from rain to snow.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River moved into winter:

During the Start of Winter, most areas in the north entered winter, and during Minor Snow, most areas in the south will see bits of winter frequently. Precipitation in winter is generally low, but precipitation in areas in south of Yangtze Rive is still greater than that in the north. In the middle of December it begins to snow in the north. The rainy days in the south (where there is no central heating) give people a clammy feeling, which is worse than the crisp feeling in winter experienced by the northern people (who have a central heating system).