More cold weather forecast this week for Northeast China, Xinjiang

Snowstorms hit Northeast China over the weekend, covering cities in knee-deep snow, interrupting traffic with icy roads and gales, and cutting off power and water supplies.

Although the National Meteorological Center downgraded the alert from orange to yellow, heavy snow is likely to continue, as forecasts on Monday show another cold snap heading to eastern parts of the country.

The new round of temperature drops and snowfall may hit Northeast China and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region this week, the center said.

Frequent cold-air movements are not a good sign for the hardest-hit areas, such as Hegang in Heilongjiang province and Siping in Jilin province.

Thousands of homes lost power and water supplies on Monday morning in Hegang, while schools and kindergartens were closed with no indication as to when they will reopen.

Liu Xiaoyu, a 30-year-old civil servant, said the water supply had not been restored as of Monday afternoon, and the roads were covered with snow and public transport was disrupted.

According to the city's meteorological bureau, snow in Hegang reached 32 cm on Monday morning.

Three highways through Heilongjiang were closed and will reopen only when weather conditions improve, according to the provincial traffic bureau.

Harbin Taiping International Airport was largely unaffected by the snow, a staff member surnamed Zheng said.

Although the snowstorm did not severely affect the traffic in Jilin province, schools in the provincial capital Changchun are scheduled to be closed on Tuesday in consideration of student safety, said Zhang Dewen, director of safety at the city's education bureau.

In the winter, frequent cold air movement is common, said Sun Jun, chief forecaster for the National Meteorological Center, adding that cold fronts may pass through the country every five days.

He said the public should keep warm and motorists should drive slowly because of the sudden temperature drop and precipitation.

Authorities in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces issued alerts for icy roads. The snow is expected to stop by Friday.

In Liaoning, vehicles carrying dangerous goods and passenger vehicles with more than seven seats have been banned from some high-risk parts of some highways, Yu Ying, a provincial traffic official, said.

The provincial capital, Shenyang, saw its first snow this winter on Sunday, and the sudden chilly weather caused some inconvenience for commuters.

With frequent cold fronts hitting the country, health experts also warned the elderly, children and the sick to avoid going outside when a cold snap is passing through.

Zhao Hongyu, deputy director of Shengjing Hospital in Shenyang, said the number of patients grew by at least 30 percent over the weekend, mainly because of the sudden temperature drop.

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Han Junhong in Changchun contributed to this story.