Cold snap continues in northern China, spreads south

v BEIJING, Dec. 24 -- The cold snap in northwest China's Xinjiang that started on Tuesday has continued, bringing a white Christmas to most parts of the far western regions, is now spreading to northern and central China.

The National Meteorological Center said the blizzard that began in most parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday night had stopped, but temperatures had kept plunging.

Thursday morning's low temperature in the north of Xinjiang averaged minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the cold snap, a result of extremely cold air temperatures in western Siberia, was moving south, bringing wind and snow, and would drop temperatures by an average 10 degrees Celsius in the northwestern provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The center has forecast heavy snow in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning over the next couple of days.

The cold is expected to hit Beijing Thursday night, with winds of 40 kilometers per hour, it said.

Beijing's weather bureau said temperatures would plunge to minus 10 to minus 13 degrees Celsius on Friday night, compared with minus three degrees on Wednesday night.

Several southern Chinese provinces are also struggling with fog, rain and temperature drops.

The National Meteorological Center has forecast rain in Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangdong provinces, Chongqing Municipality and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

In the southwestern Sichuan Province, heavy fog starting at daybreak reduced visibility to less than 50 meters in some cities. The local road traffic administration said at least eight expressways had been closed as of 8 a.m. The Shuangliu International Airport in the provincial capital Chengdu was also closed.

The mountainous Guizhou Province said Thursday that it had received 158 million yuan (23.13 million U.S. dollars) of central government aid to help residents get through the winter and celebrate the new year.