国内英语新闻:Beijing embraces first snow this winter

BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- First snow fell in Beijing Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning. It was the latest first snow for the city in 60 years.

Beijing has had no precipitation for 108 consecutive days this winter.

Local meteorologists said from 8:00 Wednesday to 6:00 Thursday, precipitation in Beijing averaged 1 mm.

"Now there is snow at last. I love the taste of snow." "The world in pure white! It's the most beautiful landscape in winter." Beijing residents who stayed late in the night and happened to see the first flakes of snow in the city left their postings on microblogs.

However, meteorologists said the first snow won't last long and it will end on Thursday noon. In midnight, the city will have a cloudy weather, and Friday will be a sunny day.

"As the precipitation is small, it will have limited effect on easing drought," Song Jisong, the municipal meteorological bureau's chief weather forecaster said.

Sun said that the capital city's record-long winter drought occurred in the winter of 1970/71, when there was no precipitation for 114 days. This winter drought was the second longest in 60 years.

Meteorologists said the current snowfall will reduce risks of fire.

The snow also affected the city's traffic. Local traffic control authorities estimated that there were more than 40 highways on which vehicles ran at a speed lower than 20 km per hour in the rush hour Thursday morning.

The authorities said an emergency headquarters had been set up for the snow weather. Expressways connecting Beijing with Chengde, Tianjin and Tibet will likely have some sections closed for the time being.

A spokesperson with the Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd. said that by 6:00 a.m. Thursday, runways at the airport had operated normally, and take-offs and landings had been normal, with no flights delayed.

The airport has also launched an emergency scheme. At last 64 ice removal vehicles had been arranged to ensure the normal operaton of flights.

Wednesday also saw snowfall and sleet in Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Anhui provinces and rainfall in the Yellow River and Huaihe River valleys, southwestern regions and the middle-and-lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley. And snow and rainfall will continue in the those areas Thursday.