Major early-season snowstorm hits northern China
Image credit: JMA/Himawari-8, RAMMB/CIRA, TW. Acquired 05:50 UTC on November 7, 2021
A significant coldwave is affecting China, bringing the first major snowstorm of the season to much of the country's northern regions, including the capital Beijing.
- The conditions prompted China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) to issue the season's first Orange snowstorm alert on Saturday, November 6, 2021.
- The cold wave is sweeping areas from Beijing and Shanghai to Guangzhou, with temperatures dropping by as much as 14 °C (25 °F) today.
- Snow accumulations in some areas are expected to exceed 40 cm (15.7 inches) by Monday, November 8.
For capital Beijing (population 21.5 million), the first snow of the season started falling on Saturday night, 23 days earlier than average, while the temperatures on Sunday night are forecast to drop to their lowest for the period in the past 10 years.1
Several highway sections in the city were closed, high-speed trains to Tianjin and Shanghai were canceled or delayed, bus service was suspended on more than 160 routes and flights were reduced at the city’s two major airports.2
The snow is expected to last till Sunday noon or afternoon, said Guo Jinlan, chief forecaster of the Beijing meteorological center.3
Image credit: JMA/Himawari-8, RAMMB/CIRA, TW. Acquired 05:50 UTC on November 7, 2021
NMC continued to issue an Orange alert for snowstorms in some northern regions today.
From Sunday morning to Monday morning, November 8, snowstorms are likely to hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.4
In some of these regions, blizzards are expected to drop over 40 cm (15.7 inches) of snow, NMC said.
Residents are advised to stay indoors and local authorities to take precautions with roads, railways, electricity, and telecommunications.
References:
1 China issues winter's first snowstorm orange alert, cold snap sweeps country – Reuters
2 Early-season snow blankets Beijing, northern China – AP
3 Season's first snow in Beijing disrupts traffic – Xinhua
4 China continues to issue orange alert for blizzards – China.org
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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