Sections of five Beijing and eight Tianjin highways were closed as a thick blanket of fog smothering north China rolled in on Sunday night.

 

The highway from Beijing to Shenyang, capital of China's northeastern Liaoning Province, only reopened at 9:33 AM on Monday. Ten highways in northeastern Liaoning Province were reopened by 2:00 PM.

 

The Liaoning provincial observatory issued a record 12 fog warnings in three consecutive days. The fog had been gradually dispersing since noon and snow was forecast on Monday night, said the observatory.

 

The fog in eastern Shandong Province had thinned by noon on Monday. All highways except the Dezhou sections of the Beijing-Fuzhou highway were reopened.

 

Airports were also affected as five flights from the provincial capital's Jinan International airport were canceled Monday morning and all other flights were delayed.

 

Six highways in northern Hebei Province have been closed since Sunday night.

 

Five flights have been canceled and four flights delayed from the provincial capital's Shijiazhuang Airport in Zhengding on Monday.

 

The closure of highways caused congestion and slow traffic on National Highway 107, said an official at the Dujiakan toll station in Beijing. Passengers bound for Baoding and Shijiazhuang, Hebei's two largest cities, waited on buses in Liuliqiao bus station on Monday morning due to of the closure.

 

The Beijing and Tianjin Municipal Observatories issued yellow fog warnings on Monday.

 

City roads were also affected by fog, with police repeatedly called out to deal with congestion and accidents. In Beijing, visibility was reported to be as low as 500 meters.

 

Visibility was between 300 and 600 meters on average and as low as 10 meters on some road sections, said Zhao Jinghong, a weather forecaster with Tianjin Municipal Observatory.

 

Visibility at Beijing Capital International Airport fell to 600 meters, resulting in some flight delays, especially on flights bound for eastern Shandong Province, according to the Beijing Municipal Observatory.

 

The airport launched an emergency fog plan to avoid mass congestion. It increased intervals between flights and urged travelers to check times before going to the airport, said an airport official.

 

The pollutant index reached 249 at noon on Monday in Beijing, a dangerous level at which the public are advised to scale back outdoor activities and go out with a respirator, said the local environmental bureau.

 

Vegetable prices were affected as the price of tomatoes rose from one yuan to 1.8 yuan per kilo as vegetables from Shandong and Henan provinces, two major suppliers to Beijing, were kept out of the city by the fog.

 

There were 30 percent more faucitis, rhinitis and respiratory infection patients than usual at major Tianjin hospitals.

 

The cause of the fog came from high humidity and little wind over the past week, said He Lifu, a meteorologist with the National Meteorology Center.

 

A cold front late on Monday night would bring fairly strong winds to north China and disperse the fog, the Beijing Municipal Observatory said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2006)