"Thunder snow" hits Beijing ( 2003-11-07 21:44) (Xinhua) The snow that hit Beijing
from Thursday night through early Friday morning brought the most ever
precipitation in the city in November and the latest thunder in a year, weather
experts said Friday.
Statistics show the average precipitation of Thursday's snow was 23
millimeters in the city proper and the southern suburb of Daxing District
reported the largest of 34 millimeters.
According to Liu Sheng, an engineer with Beijing Municipal Meteorological
Station, it is uncommon to hear thunder as late as Nov. 6 and even rarer to have
a snow accompanied by thunder.
Thunder usually appears for the last time in a year before September and the
record for the latest thunder to hit Beijing was previously on Nov. 3, 1979,
said Liu citing historical records.
Liu said summer thunder is caused by unstable atmosphere and convection of
cold and warm air streams. However, the reason leading to the thunder appearing
late Thursday night is still unclear and experts are studying the possible
causes right now.
The early arrival of snow has brought unexpected pressure on trees in
Beijing. Trees that were still heavy with leaves were under too much strain and
tree branches that were broken by the heavy snow littered the streets Friday
morning.
The weather forecast said Beijing will be clear from Friday afternoon and no
precipitation is expected in the coming two days. The temperature will also
rebound slowly to 10 degrees Celsius.
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