Wacky weather days

• Source: Global Times
• [03:25 April 14 2010]
• Comments

A car owner in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province clears snow from his car. Heavy snow blanketed the city on Monday. Photo: CFP

The east and north sections of China have experienced unusual weather conditions in recent days including snow, frost and heavy rains - rare occurrences in previous years.

The strange weather came even as the drought continues to punish the southwest.

In East China's Shandong Province, residents have been reaching into their closets for their winter clothes after the temperature suddenly dropped by 8 C to as low as –3 C.

Frost is in the forecast for the next three days across the province, which is the country's major grain producer.

Residents looking forward to warm weather in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were surprised by a snowfall on Monday. In Chifeng, about 100,000 people have been affected and 9,000 livestock have been killed since January due to the low temperature, the city's Civil Affairs Bureau said.

Some 17 counties and cities in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were hit by the biggest snowstorm of the year Tuesday, causing traffic problems and school closures.

The provincial capital Harbin was among the worst hit with 28 millimeters of snow falling between 8 am Monday to 8 am Tuesday, prompting the local meteorological authority to issue the first red snowstorm alert of 2010.

"The snow on the ground is above my ankles. It is difficult to walk downtown," said a Harbin resident surnamed Liu.

The local education bureau issued an urgent notice Tuesday, ordering the closure of primary and high schools today. Many schools had closed voluntarily Tuesday.