Records tumble across the planet as polar vortex storms kill, cause chaos and destruction

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Fishing boats were stuck in the ice at Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao, Shandong province. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:30pm, 25 Jan 2016Updated: 5:30pm, 25 Jan 2016

As Hong Kong emerged into the crisp sunny day today after its record-setting cold snap on Sunday areas around the world were experiencing unseasonal weather. In Melbourne, Australia summer’s extreme heat gave way to relatively cold weather, as the United States dealt with record snowfall in a blizzard. Even New Delhi in India battled through a wave of cold weather; the minimum temperature in the often steamy city was just 4.2 degrees Celsius on Friday, below the seasonal average by about three degrees, according to local media.

Here’s how the weather hit major cities around the world.

New York and the east coast of the US

Day 302. #Blizzard2016 gave us an impressive view below. Stay warm! #GoodNight from @iss! #YearInSpace #blizzard #snowzilla #snowmageddon2016 #Chicago #EastCoast #snow #earth #space #spacestation #iss

A photo posted by Scott Kelly (@stationcdrkelly) on Jan 23, 2016 at 4:52pm PST

Three feet of snow fell on the east coast of America halting about 500 cars in 24-hours of gridlock. More than 8,500 flights were grounded because of the conditions, including metre-high snowdrifts knocking out runways.

Power was cut to more than 150,000 homes, and current estimates suggest 20 people died from New York to Virginia during the storm. A “snow emergency” was declared in 11 states, CNN reported.

Snow in Central Park in New York piled up to a near record level of 26.8 inches, just a fraction of an inch short of the top.

But snow wasn’t the only deadly natural phenomenon facing Americans: a nearly hurricane-force storm lashed the Delaware and Virginia coasts with 75-mile per hour winds.