Blizzards to sweep across China

Northwestern provinces’ snowfall may hit record high

BEIJING: The cold snap started to affect northwestern provinces such as Shaanxi and is expected to head southeast to central and eastern regions, with yesterday experiencing the heaviest snow, the National Meteorological Centre said.

Forecasts suggest blizzards will cover more than four million square kilometres, bringing heavy snow and rain to parts of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

Total precipitation will approach or exceed record highs for January, the centre has predicted, adding that residents in some eastern provinces, including Jiangsu, will see their first snow of the winter.

Although southern parts of Hebei province are expected be hit by heavy snow until today, Beijing should remain dry.

The capital has now gone 72 days without precipitation, apart from the light dusting of snow in Yanqing district, according to official records.

This bout of heavy snow and rainfall is mainly a result of the strong and constant supply of warm, moist air from Bengal Bay meeting with the cold front from our northwestern region, said Zhang Tao, chief forecaster for the National Meteorological Centre.

The major characteristic is that these strong blizzards will cover a wide area, he said, adding that compared with the rain in the east, the snow in the vast northwestern and central region will have a major effect.

On Tuesday morning, Shaanxi issued a yellow alert for snow, suggesting potential delays to railways and flights and disruptions to electricity supplies.

In some cities, such as Xianyang, the snowfall reached 10cm by 8pm yesterday.

Henans capital Zhengzhou issued warnings for passengers, too, saying that over 200 commuter buses to cities inside the province and in neighboring Shanxi would be affected by the swirling wind and snow, with services expected to be suspended until today, according to a Dahe Daily report.

Besides the heavy rain, falling temperatures and low visibility, however, the precipitation will help ease droughts in some parts of the country, which is good news for crop farmers, Zhang said.

The weather will also clean the air and lower the risks of forest fires, he added. — China Daily/Asia News Network