Beijing extends heating season amid cold wave, snowfall

BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Beijing experienced a sharp temperature drop on Saturday with multiple areas seeing snowfall. In response, municipal authorities decided to extend the heating season by two days, pushing it until Monday.

Zhao Wei, chief forecaster at the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, said a cold front caused rain-snow transitions, with moderate to heavy snow in western and northern mountainous areas and rain turning to sleet or snow in plains from Friday to Saturday.

Zhao added temperatures are expected to range from 6 degrees Celsius during the day to minus 2 degrees Celsius at night on Saturday, about 5 degrees Celsius lower than the levels on Friday.

As of 1 p.m. Saturday, the northern districts of Huairou, Yanqing and Miyun had issued a yellow alert for icy roads, forecasting snow in the daytime and the evening.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system for strong winds, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. ■