A cold front will blow through the northern parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China tomorrow, and then move east through the Chinese mainland, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory.

 

This will cause dropping temperatures, rain and snow for the weekend, the observatory announced on Wednesday.

 

The cold spell will hit some of China's northern regions with snow and low temperatures between tomorrow and January 30.

 

Frequent rain is forecast for southern China and the east, the observatory said.

 

Snow yesterday was chaos for northern Xinjiang that is still dealing with the last bout of heavy snowfall.

 

Xinjiang has been hard hit by snow since December 29, with low temperatures forcing the evacuation of millions of people, and leaving herdsman and their livestock stranded.

 

A blanket of fog continues to cover parts of north China, areas between the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, areas between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, the Hanshui River and regions south of the Yangtze yesterday, the observatory said.

 

Most of the other mainland regions have been fairly unscathed, experiencing only cloudy weather and light winds.

 

Yesterday's mild weather nationwide was still warm compared to the same period in 2004, which is unusual, according to the observatory yesterday. Meteorological data showed that the days were colder in December last year but warmed up this month. The changes in temperature were unusual because of a series of warm winters since 1988.

 

Nationwide, the weather forecast drew slightly different pictures yesterday:

 

In northwest China, northern Xinjiang received slight to moderate snow with a northern wind force of 5 to 7. The southern part of Shaanxi Province saw cloudy skies turn to fine rain or sleet.

 

In north China, a moderately strong southerly wind swept the central and eastern regions of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

 

In southwest China, cloudy skies with light rain and sleet hit the eastern part of Sichuan Basin, the central and northern regions of Guizhou.

 

In central China, the western and northern parts of Hunan Province and western parts of Hubei Province also saw cloudy skies with light rain and sleet.

 

The eastern and southern coastal regions experienced a northerly wind of force 6 to 7.

 

 

 

 

(China Daily January 27, 2006)