BEIJING - China's coldest winter since 1986 is expected to end by mid-March, with temperatures increasing gradually in most parts of the country, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

The average temperature this winter was about 1 C below average for the past three decades, Ren Guofu, chief engineer of the National Climate Center said.

He said China experienced unusually cold temperatures for two successive winters because of the abnormal movement of the atmospheric circulation.

In the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, outside temperatures dropped to 45 C below zero this winter, an historic record, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

However, said China Meteorological Administration spokesman Chen Zhenlin, these cold winters don't mean that global warming has stopped or slowed down, because too many factors influence weather events and climate.