A thick blanket of snow covered northeast China's Liaoning Province Saturday and a weather report said most parts of the province would still expect heavy snowfall or blizzard.

The central meteorological station in the provincial capital Shenyang sent a red alarm for snow disaster at 5:46 AM, indicating the snowstorm could seriously affect local traffic and the stock raising industry within two hours.

In China, the alarm of incidents, including disastrous weather, is shown in red, orange, yellow and blue respectively, with an red alarm standing for top urgency.

Due to a chilling front from Baikal, a rare snowstorm started to hit Liaoning Province Friday, the first heavy snowfall since Feb. 4, the day that marks the start of spring in the Chinese lunar calendar.

The snow closed Shenyang's Taoxian International Airport and five of the province's total 10 expressways.

As it takes time to clean off the thick snow blanket on the parking apron and runways, airport authorities said the airport will probably resume operation at 12:00 PM Saturday, instead of 8:00 AM as was predicted on Friday.

On Saturday morning, the fallen snow in downtown Shenyang measured at least 15 centimeters.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2006)