North China ushers in early snowfall

A pedestrian takes a photo amid rainy and snowy weather in Beijing, Nov 6, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

An unexpectedly early snow fell on Beijing and other cities in North China on Friday, causing traffic dilemmas for millions of people and the capital to start providing heating for residential complexes ahead of schedule.

According to the National Meteorological Center, the snowfall hit areas in Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces, and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The snow will continue until Sunday in most of the region.

The snowfall is the earliest for the past six years in Beijing since a blizzard befell the capital on as early as Nov 2 in 2009. Meteorology experts said the snow will be helpful to for growing wheat in North China and warned residents to be careful to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning as the heating starts to work.

"People should keep an eye out and ventilate their homes to get rid of carbon monoxide emitted by heating equipment, especially for those who have seniors at home," said Zhang Fanghua, chief weather forecaster of the National Meteorological Center.

Beijing provides heating on Nov 15 as a routine operation but it can be shifted to an earlier date if the temperature is lower than 5 degrees centigrade for five consecutive days. Weather forecasts show that the snow will not stop in the coming four days.

The Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group Co Ltd announced that the heating system for residential complexes would be started today, eight days ahead of schedule, to make sure that every household in the capital would have access to heating to bear the after-snow chill.

Beijing traffic police said traffic accidents on Friday morning rush hours increased by 30 percent compared with the day before due to the weather conditions. More than 50 flights were canceled at the Beijing Capital International Airport as of Friday midday. At around 7 am, the airport broadcast that some flights might be delayed or canceled considering the rain and snow.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the irregular periodical climate change - the El Nino event may be one of the strongest in more than half a century, causing irregularities in the global climate. Early snowfall is also one of its consequences. Meteorologists have warned people around the world to keep an eye on the side effects.

However, Zhang of the National Meteorological Center pointed out the benefits from the snow. "The snowfall will be good for agriculture as the snow can provide water to the dry land in Henan and Shandong provinces and low temperatures can kill pests and pathogens that lurk in the land," she said.