Nov. 6, 2023 -- A strong cold snap that swept through large swaths of North and Northwest China over the weekend will go on to affect much of the country by early this week, according to the China Meteorological Center.

 

A mix of blizzards, frozen rain and plunging temperatures were expected to hit much of the country, the center said on its website on Sunday.

 

The center late on Saturday activated the country's second-lowest emergency response for cold waves and blizzards, replacing the lowest level response that it issued a day earlier.

 

It also issued an orange alert for snowstorms — the second-highest in the country's four-tier, color-coded blizzard warning system — and activated the lowest-level warning for gales and cold waves.

 

"The orange alert was the first of kind issued in the second half of this year," the center said in a release on its website.

 

The stepped up warnings came after a severe cold wave pushed down mercury in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and in western parts of Gansu province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region – all in the nation's northwest.

 

The center said the cold weather would spread eastward and bring about blizzards, rain, sleet and snow to the country's northeastern regions, including Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia.

 

The center estimated that heavy snow would hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei province, the plateau region in the west of Sichuan province, and the eastern part of the Tibet autonomous region in the 24 hours starting 8 pm on Saturday, with snowfall in some areas surpassing 10 centimeters.

 

Central and northern parts of Inner Mongolia could see 10 to 12 millimeters of snow on average, it said.

 

In the next 24 hours, 10 to 20 centimeters of moderate and heavy snow would fall in some areas in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, the center said, adding that frozen rain could hit Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

 

Thunderstorms and hail would hit parts of Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces in the 24 hours starting 8 pm on Saturday, with as much as 50 millimeters of rain expected.

 

In the 72 hours from 8 pm on Saturday, many areas across the country could see temperatures plunge by as much as 12C to 14C. The drop could surpass 16C in parts of Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia.

 

To reduce the impact of cold snap, transport authorities in Inner Mongolia said on Sunday that personnel, equipment and materials had been on standby to tackle disruptions induced by heavy snow. They had also increased the frequency for road inspections to quickly spot road damage and avoid traffic disruption.

By: LI LEI