Wicked weather for spring: cold warnings
- Source: Global Times
- [00:58 March 15 2010]
- Comments
A woman and a young girl confront the heavy snowfall in Langfang, Hebei Province Sunday. The temperature plunged as yet another cold snap hit the province and several other regions. Photo: CFP
By Zou Le
While a lot of people are gearing up to embrace a sunny, breezy season of Spring after having experienced rising temperatures for the past couple of days, a cold snap Sunday reminded us that it is probably too soon to stack away your thick winter clothes.
As of Sunday, most areas in Central and East China experienced a drop in temperature from 8 to 12 C, according to the Central Meteorological Station (CMS).
In central and western Inner Mongolia, northern Hebei and western Liaoning as well as Shandong Peninsula, temperatures dipped 10 to 14 C.
As a new round of cold waves moved over most parts of the country, the center issued a "blue alert" cold warning this Saturday, forecasting extreme weather over the next few days.
The blue alert is the mildest of the four-level cold wave alerts.
Affected by the new cold snap, most areas in northern, northeastern and northwestern China reported sleet and light snow. Some areas of eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, western Jilin and southern Heilongjiang provinces reported heavy snow.
"It is not uncommon to experience a cold snap following rising temperatures," said Zheng Dawei, professor of Meteorology at China Agricultural University.
He told the Global Times that the temperatures of early March this year were the lowest in more than 30 years, six to seven degrees below the sea-sonal average, which will hurt the growth of many agricultural crops.
An expert with the CMS told the Global Times that despite the snowfall and lower temperatures, the impact of the new cold wave would be "mild" and would not last long.
The cold front also triggered floating dust and sandstorms that blasted parts of Northwest China's Gansu Province Sunday.
In Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu, the thermometer showed a sharp plunge from 20 to 8 C Sunday.
The Xinhua New Agency reported that as of 5:00 pm Sunday, the sky became pale yellow as strong winds began to blow floating dust storms. The lowest visibility was within 10 kilometers.
Meteorological authorities in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region predicted more "dust days" during spring 2010 than previous years in Araxan, a desert region where most of China's sandstorms originate.
More gales and dust storms, including three to four fierce ones that might reduce the visibility to less than 1 kilometer, were expected to strike the Araxan League oasis at the west end of Inner Mongolia, according to the meteorological station in Araxan.
