Cold front holds China as Beijing welcomes first snow this year

BEIJING: Biting cold and strong wind gripped Chinese provinces on Sunday as Beijing embraced its first snowfall this winter.

National Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert against cold front Sunday morning, forecasting strong winds and temperature plummet in north, central and east China.

A temperature drop of as many as 14 degrees Celsius is expected in some parts in the north and east.

In the eastern Shandong Province, passenger-shipping service between Yantai to Dalian cities were suspended on Sunday due to cold front and strong winds.

The northern Tianjin Municipality embraced its first snow this year. As of 12:00 a.m., the maximum snow depth measured 9.3 millimetres.

Jilin Province in the northeast, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north, Shanghai and Jiangsu Province in the east also reported drastic drop of temperature.

In Beijing, a snow, which started in the wee hours and got heavier in the morning, covered most of the city proper, capping roofs and lawn in every neighbourhood.

Beijing Weather Modification Office said they had used artificial means to increase the snow to ease the lingering