BEIJING, Dec. 11 — Heavy snow blanketed vast areas north of the Yangtze River in China on Monday following freezing weather over the weekend, with alerts issued, trains and flights cancelled, and schools suspended to ensure the safety of the public.
From 7 pm Sunday to 8 am Monday, snowfall in Beijing reached 5.8 mm on average. The largest precipitation was seen in Fangshan District, reaching 10.2 mm, according to data provided by the Beijing Meteorological Service, reported Xinhua.
The city’s weather station issued a yellow alert for icy roads at 4:50 pm Sunday, forecasting that large areas of the city are likely to have icy roads between 11 pm Sunday and 2 pm Monday.
By 7 am Monday, over 180 bus routes in Beijing were suspended. The city has so far arranged about 63,000 workers and prepared over 6,600 vehicles and other equipment for snow removal and ice clearing on the roads.
A total of 26 trains within the jurisdiction of Beijing West Station will be suspended from Monday to Tuesday, the station said.
Speed restrictions have been enforced for trains traveling in both directions along the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, leading to delays for some trains, said the China Railway Beijing Group Co., Ltd.
A total of 65 flights had been canceled at the Beijing Capital International Airport by 12:27 pm Monday, and the overall operational order of the airport remained normal, according to the airport.
Meanwhile, visitors were seen waiting outside popular tourist sites like the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park early Monday morning to enjoy the snow-covered sceneries.
In central China’s Henan Province, most of the western and northern-central regions had seen more than 10 cm of accumulated snow as of 5 am on Monday, with some areas seeing a snow depth of over 15 cm.
Several hundred alerts for heavy winds, heavy snow, cold waves and icy roads have been issued in the province, with red alerts for heavy snow issued in many places.
Junior high schools, primary schools, and kindergartens in the city were suspended on Monday, and the educational bureau of Zhengzhou will further notify whether the suspension will remain on Tuesday.
In east China’s Shandong Province, primary and secondary schools as well as kindergartens in the provincial capital moved their classes online on Monday morning.
Snow and heavy wind began in Jinan during the small hours of Monday, and from 3 am to 10 am, the city saw 7 mm of snowfall.
Schools have coordinated efforts to assign some teachers the task of clearing snow and ice at the campus entrances and on school playgrounds to ensure the safe return of students on Tuesday.
The city of Shouguang in Shandong, a major vegetable producer in China, has been taking measures to ensure the vegetable supply amid the cold wave. Experts have been organised to provide on-site technical guidance on vegetable growing, and intelligent devices such as low-temperature alert apps have allowed for the in-time management of greenhouses.
China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe alert, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
