18 cities told to prepare for cold snap

A new wave of cold weather will hit central and eastern provinces in the next couple of days, the China Meteorological Administration said on Sunday.

The administration's latest forecast said temperatures in 18 provincial-level region capitals on Monday are expected to be the lowest so far this year.

Cities such as Hefei, Anhui province, and Wuhan, Hubei province, will see their maximum temperatures drop to single digits, some 6 C to 7 C lower than the same time last year.

With cold weather sweeping across central and eastern provinces, northern areas also experienced rain and snow.

A wave of rain and snow reached some central and northern provinces on Saturday, with Beijing, Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei and Shanxi experiencing 5 to 7 millimeters of snow.

The National Meteorological Center forecast that heavy snowfall in the northeast and the eastern areas between the Yellow and Huaihe rivers would finish on Sunday, while the area south of the Yellow River would see a new wave of rain and snow.

For example, heavy snow-around 5 to 8 mm-will be seen in the west of the Tibet autonomous region on Monday, and also in Hubei.

Provinces such as Yunnan and Hainan will see light rain on Monday, while the northeast of Taiwan will see heavy rain, with precipitation of around 25 to 35 mm.

Zhang Fanghua, the center's chief forecaster, told China Central Television that light snow will continue to fall in northeastern areas for the next two days.

"Temperatures will drop by 4 to 8 degrees in central and eastern areas in the following three days and could fall by more than 8 degrees in southern provinces like Guizhou," she said.