国内英语新闻:Cold front to bring temperature drops in parts of China

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A cold front is forecast to sweep across northwest and central China over the next few days, as thousands of stranded motorists wait for highways in southwest China to reopen after freezing rain prompted their closure.

A cold front will sweep across northwestern China Sunday and Monday, bringing temperature drops and strong winds, the China Meteorological Administration forecast in a statement on its website Sunday.

Temperatures will fall 6 to 8 degrees Celsius in northwestern China and eastern parts of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with some parts seeing a drop of over 10 degrees Celsius.

The cold front will move eastward and affect most of central and eastern China on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the statement.

A worker clears snow on the ancient city wall of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 2, 2011.

Northern regions will see temperature drops of 4 to 8 degrees Celsius, with temperatures in some parts dropping 10 degrees Celsius, the statement said.

Light to moderate snow or sleet will fall on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, in northwestern China, and in regions along the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze rivers over the coming three days.

Both southwest Guizhou and central Hunan provinces will see heavy snowfalls and some parts of the two provinces will experience freezing rain, according to the forecast.

In the last 24 hours as of 8 a.m. Sunday, freezing rain had lashed 62 counties and cities in Guizhou.

Most expressways in Guizhou were closed Sunday due to freezing rain that has stranded some 6,200 people on highways and some 11,800 others in transportation stations, according to provincial transportation authorities.

Transportation authorities have initiated an emergency response, dispatching 545 emergency vehicles and 4,200 personnel since Saturday afternoon to save people from the freezing rain.

The rescuers are trying to evacuate the trapped passengers and drivers to nearby villages, service stations and the office buildings of the province's transportation department, said Chen Mengren, director of the department.

The local civil affairs department has delivered food, 550 quilts, 800 coats and 4,000 bottles of water to the relief sites set up along the closed highways.

The closing of a section of China National Highway 210 in Guizhou at 7 p.m. Saturday had stranded some 1,500 vehicles as of 5 p.m., leaving more than 7,000 occupants trapped in Nandan County in neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to Nandan's publicity department.

Highway closing in Guizhou also incurred traffic jam in neighboring Hunan Province, trapping more than 6,000 passengers on a highway leading to Guizhou. As of 8.p.m., most of the stranded passengers had been relocated to the nearby Xinhuang County.

According to Guizhou's transportation department, the highway is unlikely to open until Monday and the transportation conditions in the next few days will not be optimistic as more cold fronts are forecast to hit the province from Wednesday to Saturday.

Snow and freezing rain have also hit Hunan Province. But meteorological authorities said the possibility of the province suffering from harsh conditions similar to those in the winter of 2008 is small.