China's north braces for cold
Source: Xinhua |
December 24, 2009, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S north faces a huge drop in temperature of up to 18 degrees Celsius in the next few days.
A cold snap hit northwestern Chinese regions yesterday, bringing chaos, including flight delays, traffic jams and stoppages in power and subsequent heating supplies.
Heavy snow blanketed most parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday night, bringing down the minimum temperature to minus 40 degrees in the north and east of the far western region.
In some areas, gales of up to 100 kilometers per hour hit, a regional weather bureau spokesman said.
"This is by far the worst cold snap of this winter," he said. "It was a result of chilling factors from western Siberia."
In the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, the snow began at 7pm on Tuesday and continued until 2am yesterday. It cut off power and heat supplies in Yining, a city of about 430,000 people.
Power resumed later in the morning and repair work was continuing to restore the heating system.
More than 200 vehicles were stranded on the zigzagging mountain roads in the Ili River Valley on Tuesday night, when fresh snow measured at least 20 centimeters deep, a traffic policeman said.
The blizzard closed the international airport in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, yesterday with thousands of passengers stranded in the terminal building. The snow on the runway measured more than 20cm at noon.
"The snow hasn't stopped, and it's very hard to clean up on the runway and the aircraft," said Ding Hua, a stranded passenger.
The cold snap also hit the northwestern Shaanxi Province, causing a run on gas supplies.
A cold snap hit northwestern Chinese regions yesterday, bringing chaos, including flight delays, traffic jams and stoppages in power and subsequent heating supplies.
Heavy snow blanketed most parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday night, bringing down the minimum temperature to minus 40 degrees in the north and east of the far western region.
In some areas, gales of up to 100 kilometers per hour hit, a regional weather bureau spokesman said.
"This is by far the worst cold snap of this winter," he said. "It was a result of chilling factors from western Siberia."
In the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, the snow began at 7pm on Tuesday and continued until 2am yesterday. It cut off power and heat supplies in Yining, a city of about 430,000 people.
Power resumed later in the morning and repair work was continuing to restore the heating system.
More than 200 vehicles were stranded on the zigzagging mountain roads in the Ili River Valley on Tuesday night, when fresh snow measured at least 20 centimeters deep, a traffic policeman said.
The blizzard closed the international airport in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, yesterday with thousands of passengers stranded in the terminal building. The snow on the runway measured more than 20cm at noon.
"The snow hasn't stopped, and it's very hard to clean up on the runway and the aircraft," said Ding Hua, a stranded passenger.
The cold snap also hit the northwestern Shaanxi Province, causing a run on gas supplies.
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