Temperatures in northern China are set to plummet as a new round of cold air sweeps across the region, according to the China Central Meteorological Observatory.

The observatory said that due to this round of cold air, there will be light to moderate wind and rain in central and northern areas of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, most parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and other central and eastern parts of northwestern China, as well as northern and northeast China. Meanwhile, the temperature in these areas will drop by 8C at most.

Prior to that, the cold weather hit Shaanxi and Gansu provinces on Tuesday, bringing down the temperatures there.

Residents of Yan'an, a city in Shaanxi, and the Gansu city of Pingliang felt the chill as temperatures there dropped by an average of 15C.

Meteorological monitoring by the observatory showed that on Wednesday, the temperature in the northeastern part of Northwest China, the northern part of North China, most parts of Northeast China and Inner Mongolia was no more than 10C, a sharp drop from Tuesday.

Apart from strong wind and low temperature, some places in these areas, including Beijing, Tianjin and the northern part of Hebei province, also encountered light to moderate rain on Wednesday.

Beijing had a temperature drop of 10C, while some places in southeastern Inner Mongolia even had sleet or snowfall.

As the National Day holiday is drawing to a close and people will soon return home, the observatory warned that people in northern China should pay close attention to the changes in weather and temperature, in order to avoid catching a cold.

By contrast, people in southern China may envy the north, as the temperatures there are still high, the observatory said, adding that many will seek to cool themselves to avoid sunstroke.

(China Daily 10/07/2016 page2)