China issues three alerts for cold wave, strong winds, snow storms

Beijing, Nov 21 (EFE).- China’s weather authorities issued consecutive alerts Tuesday for cold waves, snow storms and strong winds in different regions of the country.

Forecasts estimate that the population living in the provinces west to east will experience the second cold wave of the winter season from Tuesday to Friday, with drops in temperatures of up to 16C reaching minimums of -30C in some areas of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang.

This caused the meteorological center to decree a yellow alert for low temperatures, the third in importance within the four-level warning system for severe weather conditions in the country, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Meteorological authorities also issued a yellow alert from Tuesday to Thursday, due to heavy snowfall in some areas of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, which could accumulate layers of snow close to 20 centimeters thick.

The center decreed a blue alert for strong gales in the east of the western province of Xinjiang, as well as in areas of Inner Mongolia and Gansu, predicting winds of magnitude 5 to 7 (30 kmph to 61 kmph) and gusts of magnitude 8 (62 kmph to 74 kmph.)

Authorities said they advised the population to take precautions against the cold and wind and asked police to prepare for frost on several roads.

On Nov. 5, China issued its first orange alert for snow storms in the northeast of the country with maximums of 25 centimeters.

In addition to the unusual date, there was a significant drop in temperatures in several regions with drops of up to 16C. EFE

gbm/lds