Snow delightful, but also frightful
Some eastern and central provinces in China experienced their first snow and sleet of 2019 on Wednesday morning, and some places were expected to see heavy snow, according to the National Meteorological Center.
The center said that snow began falling in southern Henan, northeastern Hubei, central Anhui and southwestern Jiangsu provinces at 8 am Wednesday and is expected to continue to about 2 pm on Thursday.
Heavy rain lashed many places in South China on Tuesday, and storms are expected to continue through Friday, it said. Southern Yunnan province was expected to receive a total of 100 to 120 millimeters of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Places such as the Yangtze-Huaihe River region, central and northern parts of South China, and eastern and southern parts of Southwestern China will experience intermittent rain,” said Fang Chong, chief forecaster at the center. “The rain will become lighter during the weekend, but it will get heavier again on Monday. It will stop temporarily in those regions after a cold front starts to chill South China on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
Fang said temperatures in most places in the country are normal or even above average for this time of year, but freezing rain may occur in some places, such as the mountainous regions of Guizhou and Anhui provinces.
Though the center has rescinded the blue alerts — the least serious of the country’s four-tier color-coded weather warning system — that it issued on Wednesday morning, the Shanghai Railway Administration has suspended some trains through regions affected by the snow.
Traffic police have also limited speeds on some highways, such as the Nanjing and Zhenjiang sections of G42 Hurong (Shanghai-Chengdu) Highway, and the Suzhou, Jingjiang and Yangzhou sections of the G2 Beijing-Shanghai Highway. Trucks carrying hazardous chemicals are forbidden from driving on the highways. Other vehicles should drive at a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, the police said.
Urban management bureaus of the cities have arranged for workers to sweep the streets and scatter snow melting agents to ensure safety.
In Nanjing, Xincheng Elementary School affiliated with Nanjing Normal University asked its male teachers to sweep the snow on campus early on Wednesday morning. It also placed straw on the ground to prevent falls.
Places such as the Yangtze-Huaihe River region ... will experience intermittent rain.” Fang Chong, chief forecaster at the National Meteorological Center