A major cold wave has swept a large swathe of north China and parts of the country's eastern region since Sunday, with many cities reporting snow or rain, and temperature drops. It is the first major cold wave to many of these regions.
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hebei Province, Beijing, and Tianjin in the north, and Shandong Province in the east are among those affected by the cold snap.
At 18:00 Sunday, Mount Taishan, a UNESCO world heritage site in Shandong, greeted its first snow this year, which quickly blanketed the mountain and the wider Tai'an City in white.
Authorities of the Taishan Scenic Area have temporarily closed the tourist attraction to visitors and mobilized crews to clear snow from the roads and paths in and around the site.
Up north in Inner Mongolia, heavy snow was reported Sunday in cities including Hohhot, the regional capital, and Baotou, prompting the region's meteorological department to issue this winter's first yellow alert for cold wave.
A thick blanket of snow that began on Sunday has also covered Chongli District, a popular skiing destination and co-host of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Hebei's Zhangjiakou City, while many other parts of the province recorded rain and a plunge in temperature. In the neighboring Tianjin and Beijing, the cold front brought rain on Monday morning, with some areas of the capital also receiving snow.
The meteorological department in Tianjin issued a blue alert for cold wave on Sunday, after forecasting temperature as low as minus 3 degree Celsius for at least three days in the urban areas.
In Beijing, no major traffic disruption was reported during the morning rush hours in the city center on Monday, but authorities have warned of possible temporary closures of some highways and mountain roads due to slippery road conditions.
According to the National Meteorological Center (NMC), the cold wave may bring further snow and even blizzard to northeastern Inner Mongolia and northern Heilongjiang Province, while tracking southward to the country's central regions, in the coming three days.
The NMC simultaneously issued a blue alert for strong gusts, and a yellow alert for cold wave and blizzard, respectively, on Monday.
China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Cold snap grips parts of China with snow, rain
