Nation braces for cold snap

A wave of cold weather will sweep southward across China from Thursday to Saturday, bringing chilly gusts, heavy snow and lower temperatures, with Beijing residents experiencing their coldest day so far this winter on Saturday, the observatory said on Wednesday.

The National Meteorological Center issued a blue alert, the lowest level in the four-tier weather warning system - with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue - on Wednesday, warning that central and southern regions will see average temperatures drop by 8 to 10 degrees.

In northeastern regions, heavy snow is forecast to hit before Saturday, while southern regions will experience heavy rainfall. Residents across the country will feel the chill due to falls in temperature and strong winds, said Sun Jun, chief forecaster at the observatory.

He said the cold weather, which started on the Mongolian Plateau, would move swiftly across the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions to affect southern regions within 48 hours. Sun added that "the average temperature from Nov 3 to 13 was higher than it had been in the past 30 years, and the pressure gradients larger, which was making the cold wave stronger."

In many cities including Beijing, Zhengzhou in Henan province, and Nanjing in Jiangsu province, residents will experience the coldest day so far in the second half of the year on Saturday, the observatory said.

Sun said it will gradually start to get warmer after Nov 22.

The cold weather will be good for the growth of grain in the north and bring rain to the south, Sun said, adding that the strong winds will help disperse air pollutants and bring blue skies.

Despite the occasional cold snap, China is expected to have a mild winter this year, according to a general forecast for the whole winter, said Wang Yongguang, chief meteorologist at the National Climate Center.