BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- China's meteorological authority renewed an orange alert on Friday evening for strong gales that will sweep across the northern regions and coastal areas over the weekend.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in an updated forecast that from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday, winds of up to force 13 (37.0-41.4 m/s) on the national wind scale will hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei and Beijing.

Gales up to force 12 will affect some areas including the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, the NMC said.

Additionally, a yellow alert for snowstorms was also issued, warning that parts of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang will experience snowfall ranging from 20 to 28 millimeters.

The NMC further renewed a blue alert for rainstorms that will affect regions including parts of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and Liaoning.

The center also continued to issue a blue alert for sandstorms that will hit Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and Ningxia.

The NMC advised the public in affected regions to take full precautions.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The strong gale has led to a suspension of flights and passenger trains as well as expressway shutdowns. According to the China Railway Beijing Group, some 56 train services were temporarily halted on Friday, and 103 services are scheduled to be canceled on Saturday.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management also initiated an early-warning response for severe convection Friday for 13 provincial regions, including Hubei and Hunan, for strong winds, sandstorms and intense convection weather in the central and eastern regions.

The emergency response to forest and grassland fire has been raised from Level-IV, the least severe level in the country's four-tier emergency response system, to Level-III, according to the ministry. Enditem

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