Heavy snow in Beijing suspends train operations, schools remain closed

BEIJING: Beijing continues to be blanketed by heavy snow on Thursday, with train operations affected and schools still suspended.

In response to the weather, Beijing's railway stations canceled at least 153 trains as of 10 a.m. Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Primary schools, secondary schools, and kindergartens in Beijing started suspending classes on Wednesday, and the resumption of in-person classes will be announced later, according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission.

The Beijing Meteorological Observatory said the average precipitation in the city from 5 a.m. to midnight Wednesday was 2.7 mm, with an average of 3.1 mm in the urban area.

On Thursday, moderate to heavy snow was forecast in the daytime and light snow at night.

The weather forecast also noted that the highest temperature in the city on Thursday would be minus 2 degrees Celsius, and the lowest would be minus 5 degrees.

Following this round of snow, which is expected to end on Friday, the city will be hit by a cold wave, with minimum temperatures expected to drop below minus 10 degrees at night.

The city is still on an orange alert for heavy snow, a yellow alert for icy roads, and a blue alert for cold waves.

In addition to Beijing, parts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hubei, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Liaoning will be hit by heavy snow from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening, according to the National Meteorological Centre (NMC).

The NMC also renewed a yellow alert for a cold wave, predicting that temperatures in most parts of China will drop by 8 to 12 degrees Celsius from Wednesday evening to Saturday.

In central Henan province, the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, and the cities of Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Anyang, schools were suspended on Thursday due to the extreme weather.