China Sea through nine mouths known as the Cửu Long (nine dragons). The river is heavily silted and is navigable by seagoing craft of shallow draft as far as Kompong Cham in Cambodia. A tributary entering the river at Phnom Penh drains the Tonlé Sap, a shallow freshwater lake that acts as a natural reservoir to stabilize the flow of water through the lower Mekong. When the river is in flood stage, its silted delta outlets are unable to carry off the high volume of water. Floodwaters back up into the Tonlé Sap, causing the lake to inundate as much as 10,000 square kilometers. As the flood subsides, the flow of water reverses and proceeds from the lake to the sea. The effect is to reduce significantly the danger of devastating floods in the Mekong delta, where the river floods the surrounding fields each year to a level of one to two meters. Climate Northern Vietnam (including Hanoi) has subtropical climate with the Köppen climate classification and Northern Vietnam (including Hanoi) has subtropical climate with the Köppen climate classification and has times to be influenced by cold waves from the Northeast, northern part of Central Vietnam also has times to be influenced by cold waves, southern part of Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam are hot around year. Based on geographic and climatic conditions, there are seven different climatic regions in Vietnam: Northwest, Northeast, North Delta (Red River Delta), North Central (North Central Coast), South Central (South Central Coast), Central Highlands, and the South. The South is subdivided into the Southeast for the southeastern provinces and the Mekong Delta for the southwestern provinces. Generally, these seven different climatic regions are grouped into two main types: The North (includes Northwest, Northeast, North Delta (Red River Delta), North Central (North Central Coast)) which includes all areas north of the Hải Vân Pass and the South (South Central Coast, Central Highlands and the extreme south) which includes all areas south of the Hải Vân Pass. These climatic regions are based on time of rainy season and other climatic elements such as insolation, sunshine, temperature, precipitation, and humidity. During winter, polar air originating from the Siberian High penetrate deeply into the low latitudes, facilitated by the eastern Tibetan Plateau that funnels the air southwards in a northeast direction (the cool air is a wind coming from the northeast). Many cold fronts can penetrate into Vietnam