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Sylvie Zhuang

Much of China is on alert for extreme weather as snowstorms and freezing rain disrupt traffic across some of the most populous parts of the country during the annual mass human migration for the Lunar New Year.
An orange alert for freezing rain – the second-highest warning in the China Meteorological Administration’s (CMA) three-tier system – remained in effect on Saturday for central and eastern parts of the country.
It was issued on Thursday for the first time since the system was introduced in 2010 and will continue until Sunday.
Freezing rain is an unusual phenomenon that occurs when falling snow encounters a layer of warm air deep enough for the snow to completely melt and become rain.
If the rain then lands on objects colder than 0 degrees Celsius, it forms a smooth, clear layer of ice.
The CMA said Anhui province in the east and Hubei province in central China were expected to be particularly hard hit by freezing rain.
An orange blizzard alert was also issued for central and eastern China on Saturday, with Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Guizhou provinces as well as Chongqing expected to be affected.
Orange is the second-highest level in the four-tier blizzard warning system and some areas could have up to 200 millimetres (8 inches) of snow.
The CMA said the rain and snow had sent temperatures in most parts of central and eastern regions below normal for this time of year, and from Monday, the mercury would plunge in the southeast as well.


The warnings come just over a week into the 40-day Spring Festival travel season known as chun yun.
During this period, which began on January 26, tens of millions of people make their way back and forth across the country to see family and friends for the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 10 this year.
By Saturday, eight days into chun yun, more than 1½ billion trips on all forms of transport had already been made, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The Ministry of Transport forecast that a record 9 billion trips would be made during the holiday season.
But legions of these travellers have already been stranded as many train services to and from major cities have been disrupted by the winter weather, including in Shanghai where at least 39 trains for Saturday and Sunday were suspended.
In Wuhan, capital of the central province of Hubei, 159 train services were suspended on Saturday due to the extreme weather.
A weather-induced power failure stopped one train into Wuhan in its tracks, leaving passengers without heating for around eight hours before finally reaching its destination on Saturday morning, according to Guangdong-based Southern Metropolis News.


Wuhan railway authorities said more than 100 extra rail services would be added when the weather improved.
The municipality of Chongqing also said it would suspend 14 trains on Saturday.
The snow and ice forced closure of more than a dozen highways in eight provinces and regions last week, including in Inner Mongolia, Henan, Hubei and Guangdong, according to the Transport Ministry’s Highway Monitoring and Response Centre.
Hubei and Anhui provinces also said they would close many tourist attractions due to the extreme weather.
The extreme conditions have also prompted Anhui and Hubei to ramp up preparations for potential disasters, with the Ministry of Emergency Management sending disaster relief supplies to the two provinces to bolster their stockpiles.
The CMA has warned that this year’s Lunar New Year weather could be the most “complex” since 2008.
That year a severe storm killed 107 people, stranded more than 5.8 million passengers and affected water and power supplies to more than 100 million people, according to CCTV.


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China’s Spring Festival travellers brace for freezing rain and blizzards

Anhui province is on alert for blizzards and freezing rain. Photo: Getty Images

Blizzards and extreme weather could disrupt China’s Lunar New Year travel

Railway workers clear snow from a bullet train in Nanchang in central China’s Jiangxi province on January 22. Chinese travellers are expected to make a record 9 billion trips during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday. Photo: AFP

More Chinese expected to travel abroad for Lunar New Year

Travellers gather at Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on Friday, the first day of China’s Lunar New Year travel period. Photo: Bloomberg

Hong Kong temperature to drop as low as 14 degrees Celsius ahead of Lunar New Year

Pedestrians walk along Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. Observatory warned of “appreciably cooler” weather ahead of the Lunar New Year. Photo: Eugene Lee

Forecasters say there is a 40 per cent chance that the temperature might dip to a minimum of 12 degrees on Lunar New Year’s Eve. Photo: Jelly Tse

News

China

Politics

Millions of people are on the move for the Lunar New Year but bad weather threatens many of those plans
A weather-induced power failure stops one train into Wuhan for eight hours, leaving passengers without heating


A weather-induced power failure stops one train into Wuhan for eight hours, leaving passengers without heating.


Extreme weather

Weather

China travel

Lunar New Year