School suspended due to blizzard in Chinese city of Jinan

JINAN -- Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, on Sunday ordered all primary and middle schools, as well as kindergartens, to suspend classes on Monday due to blizzard conditions.

One parent from each family will be allowed to take care of the students at home, while online classes will be arranged, according to an urgent circular issued by the city authorities.

Office hours will also be shortened on Monday, with flexible on-duty and off-duty times encouraged, said the circular.

Heavy snow began to hit the city from Sunday morning, with the city's meteorological station issuing orange alerts for snowstorms and a cold wave.

As of 2 pm on Sunday, the accumulated snowfall in the city proper had reached up to 17 cm, with the snow continuing to fall.

The city raised its icy-road alert level from orange to red, the highest level, at 2 pm.

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