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Beijing embraces largest snowfall this winter

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-26 19:34
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BEIJING - Moderate snow fell in Beijing Saturday morning, bringing some relief to the droughty Chinese capital in the past winter.

Beijing embraces largest snowfall this winter
A visitor holds a snowball at the snow-covered Temple of Heaven park in Beijing, Feb 26, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

The snow, with an average precipitation of 2.7 mm in the entire region of the municipality and 1.9 mm in the downtown area, began at around 2 am Saturday. Snowfall would go on and off over the weekend, resulting in the longest snowy weather of this winter in Beijing, a spokesman with the city's weather bureau said Saturday.

Precipitation in some suburban areas reached 10.2 mm, the heaviest the city had seen so far this winter, he added.

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The highest temperature in daytime would be pulled down eight degrees Celsius to reach two or three degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature would drop to four degrees below zero during the weekend, said the spokesman.

This is the third snow Beijing has embraced this year, with the first one falling on Feb 9, the latest first snow for the city in 60 years.

The moderate precipitation would help alleviate drought in Beijing, as the city had not seen any precipitation for 108 days before the first snow two weeks ago, said Guo Jinlan, chief weatherman of the bureau.

Snowfall together with strong winds also helped dissipate the haze that had shrouded the city for four days and greatly improved air quality, according to the municipal bureau of environmental protection.

Heavy fog had enveloped Beijing earlier this week. With the visibility of around one kilometer, the city's air pollution had been measured as the most hazardous level this year.

Nearly 400 city workers and more than 200 slowplows were dispatched Saturday to clear snow from the streets to keep the traffic flowing, said an official with the Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group.

Vegetable prices rose by 1.71 percent from Friday at suburban Beijing's Xinfadi market -- North China's largest agricultural produce distribution center, as snow had caused delivering delays but the market's analyst said the price increase was still within "normal" range.

Besides Beijing, snow and rain also fell in most parts of the nearby Hebei province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Shanxi province, which have also been plagued by drought in the past months, according to the provincial and regional weather bureaus.

In Shanxi, snow has blanketed 107 of the province's 109 counties and cities, forcing road department to close or traffic-control several expressways.

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