Nine Mexican states were put under cold weather alert by the National Meteorological Service (SMN) on Thursday.

The northern states of Chihuahua, Durango and Nuevo Leon and the central states of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Mexico, San Luis Potosi and Jalisco are expected to experience freezing weather from Thursday afternoon, said the SMN, warning of deaths from hypothermia.

The chilly weather comes earlier than normal, and will be accompanied by winds of up to 88 km per hour from the Gulf of Mexico in the next four days.

The SMN also alerted people in other states against cold, though not deadly, weather conditions.