Severe fog blanketed large swathes of north China's Hebei Province since Saturday night, reducing visibility to below 50 meters and prompting widespread expressway closures until Sunday noon.
The Hebei Provincial Meteorological Observatory issued an orange fog alert on Saturday afternoon, the second-highest alert level. Starting that night, heavy fog engulfed central and southern parts of Hebei, including the provincial capital Shijiazhuang and cities of Baoding, Langfang, and Handan.
Visibility dropped drastically, falling to below 200 meters in many areas. Places like Feixiang District and Guangping County of Handan even reported visibility of less than 50 meters.
The dense fog created hazardous conditions for road travel, prompting large-scale highway closures across the affected region. Beginning at around 04:00 on Sunday morning, toll stations along more than ten major expressways in central and southern Hebei, including the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Taipei, and Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao routes, were temporarily shut down.
By midday, as the fog gradually dissipated, the meteorological alert was lifted and expressway access points were reopened, allowing traffic to return to normal.
China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Dense fog disrupts road traffic in parts of north China
