国内英语新闻:Beijing embraces second snowfall within three days

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Snow fell again in Beijing Saturday night, three days after the city had its first snow this winter.

Snow continued falling on Sunday morning but was forecasted to stop in the daytime.

From 8:00 p.m. Saturday to 8:00 a.m. Sunday, precipitation in Beijing averaged 1.7 mm to 3.1 mm in downtown areas, local meteorologists said.

Zhang Qiang, head of the municipal artificial weather intervention office, said the office began cloud seeding and was continuing efforts to increase snowfall from 7:25 p.m. Saturday in the nine districts and counties of Miyun, Mentougou, Yanqing, Haidian, Pinggu, Changping, Shijingshan, Fangshan and Huairou.

By 8:20 a.m. Sunday, 657 silver iodide rods had been used to increase the snowfall.

More than 3,583 people and 768 vehicles have been mobilized since Saturday to clear the snow on major roads of Beijing to ensure road transportation, according to the city transportation departments.

Beijing had its first snow of the winter Wednesday and Thursday after 108 days of zero precipitation.

Meteorologists said the snowfall in Beijing had helped ease the pressure of drought.

"Beijing is expected to have another cold front from Feb. 15 to Feb. 16, but it is not sure if there will be another snowfall then," said Liao Xiaonong, chief weatherman with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.