China renews blue alert for blizzards

BEIJING -- China's meteorological authority on Wednesday renewed a blue alert for blizzards, forecasting intense snowfall in Hunan province and Jiangxi province.

Central and southern parts of Hunan province, and southern and western parts of Jiangxi province will be hit by heavy snow from Wednesday to Thursday morning, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC).

Blizzards are expected to deposit up to 10 cm of snow in some parts of the above-mentioned regions, the NMC said.

The NMC also renewed a blue alert for low temperatures in the country's central, southern, southwestern and eastern regions. From Wednesday to Thursday, the lowest daily temperatures in some regions, including parts of Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, will be over 5 degrees Celsius lower than the historical average for this period.

The NMC warned local people to limit outdoor activities and local authorities to take precautions against road icing and agricultural freezing damages.

The NMC has also called on local governments to prepare for blizzards.

The Ministry of Emergency Management and another government department on Tuesday activated a Level-IV national emergency response to disasters induced by low temperatures, rain, snow and freezing conditions in central China's Hubei and Hunan provinces.

Some 20,000 disaster relief items, including cotton-padded quilts, had been dispatched to Hunan province, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

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