A strong cold front has been sweeping across the northern and eastern parts of China since late Monday, bringing rainfall to many places, meteorological authorities said.

Since Monday, the northwestern parts of the country have been influenced by a mass of strong, cold air, which resulted in a big drop in temperatures in the northern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the western parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Gansu province, and the northern part of Qinghai province, the National Meteorological Center said on Tuesday.

The first flurries of winter arrived in Yakeshi, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Tuesday as a cold front engulfed many parts of China.[Yu Changjun/For China Daily]

The sharpest drops in temperature were recorded in some areas of western Gansu, where the mercury fell as much as 15 C, according to the center.

The cold front has since been moving eastward and southward, sweeping across most parts of the northeastern, northern and eastern parts of China, it added.

The center said it expected temperature drops of up to 12 C in central and eastern parts of Inner Mongolia, the eastern part of North China, the southern part of Northeast China and the eastern part of Shandong province through Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, many cities along eastern coastal regions, including Weihai in Shandong province, Zhoushan and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, issued yellow wind warnings.

Some province-level regions such as Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning and Hebei issued blue warnings.

Two young men struggle to walk in strong winds in Chaoyang district, Beijing, on Tuesday. Kuang Linhua / China Daily

Chinese meteorological authorities use a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red being the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The NMC said heavy snow will hit northeastern Inner Mongolia and northwestern parts of Heilongjiang through Tuesday and Wednesday.

It also forecast that gales and rain will affect regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and most parts of North and East China during Wednesday and Thursday.

A brief spell of rain on Tuesday morning dropped the temperature in Beijing sharply, with a steady wind affecting much of the city for the rest of the day, forcing many residents to bundle.

The local meteorological bureau has forecast frost on Wednesday.

Most places in Shanxi province, meanwhile, have suffered strong gales and rainfalls over the past two days, with temperatures in the province's northern and western parts dropping by at least 5 C.

Its provincial meteorological authority issued a blue wind warning on Tuesday morning, saying strong wind would hit the province through Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, the colder weather brought rainfall on Tuesday, putting an end to a month of dry weather.

While in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, residents are also expecting strong winds, which weather forecasters said will arrive on Wednesday, and disperse the smog that has covered the sky for days, according to Nanfang Daily.

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