A woman shields herself from the wind with silk scarves in Tian'anmen Square on Monday. Dusty winds have raised the capital's pollution level. Provided to China Daily

Furnaces begin to cool down as temperatures plummet to -2 C

The capital's heating supply will be cut as scheduled from midnight on Tuesday, according to Beijing officials.

Despite falling temperatures, "the weather condition is not applicable to extend the heating season", said Wang Qingwen, a press officer with the city's heating office.

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Under regulations that came into effect last April, temperatures must remain below 5 C for five consecutive days to warrant leaving the central heating system on past March 15.

Guo Jinlan, chief reporter at the Beijing Meteorological Bureau and Finance Bureau, said a stream of cold air reached the capital on Monday, dragging temperatures down from above 15 C to 9 C.

"The mercury will continue to fall until Wednesday, although the average for the next five days is above 5 C," she said, adding that the temperature will drop to -2 C on Wednesday night, but will stay above 0 C for the rest of the week, hitting a high 13 C.

"It's common for the capital to experience lots of cold air in spring," said Guo. "Another stream of cold air will hit Beijing next week, but not as strong as the current one."

Wang explained that schools, hospitals, nursing homes and kindergartens, which negotiate separate contracts with heating suppliers, can ask for an extension, but residential homes will start to slowly get colder.

"We'll stop adding coal to the furnaces, but the whole system needs time to cool down, so people may still feel their heaters are warm for a day or two," he explained.

Some residents, however, are already looking for ways to escape the capital's usual spring cold spell, such as Wu Dawei, 82, who lives with his wife in Chaoyang district. He has moved to stay with his daughter in Tianjin, where the heating will be left on until April 15.

"The heating period in my daughter's community is more reasonable," said Wu, who suffers from cardiovascular disease. "Elderly people in my community who have nowhere else to go all have electric heaters."

Dusty winds raised the capital's pollution level on Sunday. The daily air quality report released by the environmental bureau showed "mild concentration" throughout the city, with five monitoring sites showing "heavily polluted" levels.

There is no risk of a dust storm in the next week, Guo added.