Hong Kong recorded its coldest Nov 18 in 120 years as a winter monsoon continued to send temperatures falling, authorities said Thursday.

Temperatures fell to 9.7 degrees Celsius in the sub-tropical city Wednesday morning - the lowest Nov 18 reading since records began in 1883.

In rural areas close to the border with China, it was even colder, falling as low as 6.6 degrees.

The previous coldest Nov 18 was in 1976 when the temperature was 11.9 degrees.

The Observatory warned the cold spell, which has brought snow to some parts of southern China, would continue until the weekend as the northeast monsoon brought wintery weather to southern China.

However, it is expected to get warmer over the weekend, bringing temperatures to around 20 degrees next week.

Hong Kong is in a sub-tropical belt at the southern tip of China and never has snow. Occasionally, traces of frost are seen on high ground on the coldest days of the winter.