A slight cold marks the beginning of the coldest day of the year. Slight cold is the 23rd of the 24 solar terms, and it is also a solar term of the twelfth lunar month. Like great cold, slight summer heat, great summer heat and intense summer heat, they are all solar terms indicating temperature changes. During the slight cold season, most parts of China have entered a severe cold period, with frozen soil and rivers frozen. In addition, the cold air in the north keeps going south and the weather is cold. People call it "counting nine cold days"

The weather characteristics of slight cold are: it gets cold, but it is not cold yet. The "March 9th" in the middle of winter is basically within this solar term, so there is a saying that "slight cold is better than severe cold". Two old folk proverbs, "A slight cold, freezing into a ball" and "Walking in the street, losing money", all describe the coldness of this solar term. As for slight cold or severe cold, which is colder? There is no clear answer to this question. Statistics of historical data show that the situation is different in different places and different years. Generally speaking, the average minimum temperature of severe cold solar terms in the north is lower than that of slight cold solar terms. The south is the opposite.