High temperatures make it easier for worm eggs and bugs to survive the winter, so plant diseases and insect pests are a real possibility in the spring, said Song Lianchun, head of the disaster reduction forecast department of the CMA.

    Song warned of a possible spring drought in some parts of north China after the dry winter months.

    Influenced by global warming, temperatures in northeast China and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were also higher this winter, said Song Yanling, an engineer with the National Climate Center under the CMA.

    The temperature in northeast China was 4.1 degrees higher and the temperature on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was 2.7 degrees higher than normal years, Song said.

    Carbon dioxide emissions are influencing the global climate and exacerbating global warming, according to experts.

    International experts forecast that the global temperature will rise two to 4.5 degrees Celsius this century, with some regions seeing a rise of six degrees.

    Experts warned that global warming can generate extreme weather.

    According to the CMA, rain and snow hit areas along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the country's longest waterway, in January, with Hubei and Anhui provinces hard hit by heavy snow. The maximum snowfall was 15 centimeters.

    However, drought continued in north China, Liaoning Province in northeast China, regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province in the southwest. Most of these regions saw rainfall of less than 10 millimeters last month.

    A sandstorm hit parts of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia, as well as Gansu and Shanxi provinces, on Jan. 26. Satellite monitoring shows that the dust covered an area of about 4,500 square kilometers.

    In January, heavy fog blankets parts of Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian and Yunnan provinces, and parts of Chongqing Municipality, for four to 12 days, according to the CMA.