Heavy fog to blanket North, East China

BEIJING - China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) retained its blue-coded alert for fog on Sunday, saying heavy haze will continue to decrease visibility to as low as 200 meters in the lower reaches of Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

Areas including Tianjin, middle and southern Hebei, southern Shanxi, Henan, northern Hubei, southern Anhui, northern Jiangxi and southern Sichuan will be covered by strong fog on Sunday, the NMC forecast.

The alert is the lowest level in China's four-color-coded weather warning system after red, orange and yellow.

It advises drivers to be cautious of road conditions and slow down to guarantee safety.

Meanwhile, affected by the lingering cold fronts, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and China's northeastern provinces will receive medium to heavy snowfall from Dec 2 to 4, while some areas will be hit by blizzards, the NMC said.

The center added that temperatures in much of northern China will fall by 4 to 8 degrees Celsius in the coming three days, with some parts seeing temperature drops of more than 10 degrees Celsius.