Sales of winter dresses and hotpot dinners are booming as the yellow alert for cold weather remained in force for the fourth day in a row yesterday.

The city observatory yesterday morning recorded this winter's lowest temperature - 3.8 degrees Celsius - at Wutong Mountain in Luohu District. The city's benchmark weather station at Zhuzilin in Futian District recorded 8.9 degrees Celsius yesterday morning.

The observatory said the yellow alert may be lifted today. The temperature is expected to climb slowly, with the minimum temperature reaching 13 degrees Celsius at the weekend.

The cold weather has brought robust business to stores selling electric heaters, winter clothes, as well as winter food.

Electric appliance stores Gome and Suning saw their the sales of electric heaters almost double. "Sales of electric heaters had been stagnant because this winter had not been cold. But in recent days, sales have been growing," said a salesgirl with Suning.

Meanwhile, sales of winter clothes - coats, shawls and thermal underwear - also jumped. Sales of well-known-brand thermal underwear Three Gun rose by about 50 percent, according to a salesgirl with Shirble department store.

The cold weather has also brought good business to hotpot restaurants.

Little Sheep and Huashen saw their customer numbers double recently, prompting other restaurants to also offer hotpot dinners.

The municipal relief center is providing shelter for the homeless during the cold weather alert. So far, more than 70 people have sought help from the center.

Editor: Yan