The cold snap over the Lunar New Year holiday will spill into the weekend, with unsettled weather also expected next week, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

The weather forecaster on Thursday said a cold winter monsoon would persist over the coast of southern China for the next couple of days. The monsoon was expected to be replaced by an easterly airstream early next week, with temperatures rising slightly and a few rain patches over Guangdong province.

Dressed for the cold weather in Tsim Sha Tsui.

But the cold weather will return midweek with another surge of the monsoon affecting Guangdong and bringing lower temperatures.

The northerly wind has chilled Hong Kong for almost a week with the cold weather warning in force since Saturday.

The Observatory said temperatures around noon on Thursday were two to three degrees lower than the previous day and a broad band of cloud was bringing rain to southern China.

Friday’s temperatures will be around 11 to 17 degrees Celsius. It will remain mainly cloudy with sunny periods over the next two days but still cold in the morning.

One or two rain patches are expected from Monday to Friday with temperatures around 13 to 19 degrees.