It is time to schedule that friendly snowball fight in your neighborhood.

A mighty cold front is expected to drop temperatures by as much as 14 C in some parts of northern China in the next three days, according to the National Meteorological Center yesterday.

Southern China may see rain for the next three days, while torrential rain will hit regions of middle and eastern China.

The meteorological center also issued a cold-snap warning in Beijing and predicted that the nation's capital could see snow through Wednesday, making this the longest run of snowfall so far this year.

The center said a mixture of rain and snow was likely in Beijing on Sunday night. The temperature could drop to -6 C on Thursday morning, it reported.

The cold warning came after days of thick fog in northern and eastern parts of China.

Poor weather conditions yesterday in Beijing grounded the aerial show and skydiving exhibition of the People's Liberation Army air force. It had been scheduled at 10 am to celebrate the air force's 60th anniversary.

Nearly all highways near the capital were closed for more than 10 hours due to poor visibility during the weekend.

The center's forecasts said the coming snowfall in Beijing would not be heavier than the one that hit the capital last weekend, which was the strongest in the last 40 years.

The municipal weather modification office used artificial means to increase the snow in order to ease the lingering drought last weekend, but the office yesterday declined to comment whether artificial means would be used again to increase snowfall this week.

But to avoid the chaos that occurred at the Beijing Capital International Airport during the last snowfall, airport officers are well prepared this time.

"We have made emergency plans for snow and have prepared 18 instant de-icing vehicles, the largest group in Asia," said a man surnamed Li, who said he is the chief of the media office of the Beijing Capital International Airport.

"The cold wave might improve the difficulty of our work in regards to the unexpected thickness of ice on the runway."

He said it is hard to predict whether the coming snow will postpone flights and strand passengers, but sufficient supplies of drinking water and blankets will be ensured for any emergency situation.

In addition, the airport will arrange a larger staff to provide information in case of any flight delays, he said.

The local heating office has also put almost all boilers into operation, local media said.