Giant pandas in Yantai, China, enjoy a treat from Mother Nature, snow! TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

BEIJING – Students across the southeastern United States woke up and rejoiced this morning when they discovered that severe snow and windstorms had cancelled school for the day.

Not so lucky have been students in China’s Hunan and Guizhou provinces, where freezing temperatures have put significant strain on the regions’ electricity grid and treacherous road conditions.

Xinhua News Agency

Children from Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County in China's Hunan province carry coal burners to school for warmth. The region has been hit by frigid temperatures that have strained roadways and power grids.

The combination of these two factors, though, has not brought cancellations by local school boards. Rather, parents have taken instead to sending their children to school every day with their own coal burners to stay warm in the often frigid, unventilated classrooms.

A local reporter photographed conditions in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County and documented some of the many makeshift burners made out of everything from tin cans to old wash basins.

Xinhua News Agency

Students eat huddled around makeshift coal burners for warmth.

Certainly makes you grateful for that thermostat.

Hat tip to Shanghaiist for the link.