China renews yellow alert for strong winds

BEIJING -- China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) on Saturday renewed a yellow alert for strong winds and forecasted temperature drops in northeastern Heilongjiang province, where the 9th Asian Winter Games is underway.

From 8 am Saturday to 8 am Sunday, strong winds are expected in parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Hebei province, Xizang autonomous region and Qinghai province.

Powerful winds are also expected in parts of the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, waters east of Taiwan Island, the Bashi Channel, and the South China Sea.

The NMC announced the end of Friday's blue alert for a cold wave but noted that temperatures are expected to drop in parts of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang province from Saturday to Sunday, with some areas of Heilongjiang seeing declines of up to 10 degrees Celsius.

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