BEIJING, Jan. 27 -- It will be a strong wind that brings in the New Year. A cold front will blow through the northern parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China tomorrow, and then move east through the Chinese mainland, the Central Meteorological Observatory said.

    This will cause dropping temperatures, rain and snow for the weekend, the observatory predicted on Wednesday.

    The cold spell will hit some of China's northern regions with snow and dropping temperatures between tomorrow and January 30.

    Frequent rain will dampen areas from southern China to the east, said the observatory under the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).

    Yesterday's snow brought more chaos to northern Xinjiang, an area still fighting the last heavy snowfall.

    Xinjiang has been hard hit since December 29, with drastic temperatures causing the evacuation of millions of people, and leaving herdsman and their livestock stranded, the CMA said.

    A blanket of fog covers parts of North China, areas between the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, areas between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, reaches along the Hanshui River and regions south of the Yangtze yesterday, the observatory said.

    Most of the other mainland regions have enjoyed cloudy weather and light winds.

    Yesterday's mild weather nationwide was still warm compared to the same period of 2004, which is unusual, weathermen at the observatory said yesterday. Meteorological data showed that the days were colder in December last year and then warmed up this month. The changes in temperature were unusual because of the continuous warm winters from 1988 in North China.

    Nationwide, the weather forecast drew slightly different pictures yesterday:

    In Northwest China, northern Xinjiang received slight to moderate snow with a northern wind force of 5 to 7. The southern part of Shaanxi Province saw cloudy skies turn to fine rain or sleet.

    In North China, a southern wind force of 4 to 5 swept the central and eastern regions of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

    In Southwest China, cloudy skywith fine rain or sleet hit the eastern part of Sichuan Basin, the central and northern regions of Guizhou.

    In Central China, the western and northern parts of Hunan Province and the west part of Hubei Province also faced cloudy sky with fine rain or sleet.

    The eastern and southern coastal regions experienced a northern wind force of 6 to 7.

(Source: China Daily)